Spanish football to return to training next week

Spain’s higher council for sport (CSD) has ‘given the green light’ for a return to individual training across the nation from 4 May.

As outlined by Marca, Minister Salvador Illa validated the protocol approved the protocol after meeting with multiple sporting bodies including La Liga, the Spanish FA and the AFE players union.

The testing will be available for sportsmen and mandatory although it remains unclear just what volume will be available – El Mundo Deportivo claimed the full return to training would take place between Thursday and Saturday next week.

A further report in Cadena Ser claimed that test results would be available within 48 hours and between eight and 11 individual workouts could take place at once.

There are growing fears that the 2019/20 campaign will not be completed due to the indefinite suspension of football in Spain caused by the coronavirus pandemic, although La Liga insist that the intention of the league remains to complete the season.

La Liga hopes to resume the 2019-20 season, which has 11 rounds of games still to play, in mid-June.

The nation has been in a state of emergency since 13 March but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has now clarified plans to ease the nation back into some sense of normality as coronavirus cases begin to reduce.

As reported by Goal, players can return to individual training session on 4 May with a de-escalation plan that will have four phases, each lasting a minimum of two weeks, and that should lead to some form of normality by the end of June – ‘gradually and asymmetrically’.

Phase 0: basic training for professional athletes

Phase 1: medium training and opening of high-performance centres

Phase 2: authorisation of outdoor activities with less than 400 attendees

Phase 3: return to the ‘new standard’, with no specific references to sport.

La Liga - Club News