Madrid: Spanish LaLiga President Javier Tebas is hopeful that the Seville derby between Sevilla and Real Betis would mark the restart of the league after it was stopped in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also said full group training will start from June 1.
Heavyweights Real Madrid and Barcelona were among La Liga teams to resume training in groups of 14 players at a time on Monday.
“It will all depend on the training sessions and the phases, but we would like the first match to be the Seville derby: Sevilla FC vs Real Betis,” Tebas said in a statement shared by LaLiga.
“If we progress as the Spanish President says, it is possible that we make Thursday June 11th. If not, it would be the 12th, or the 13th. Fingers crossed it will be Thursday 11th at 10pm Spanish time.
“Full group training will be from next Monday (June 1st) onwards. This week, players will train in groups of up to 14 and it’s not planned for them to train all together until next week.”
All football in the country has been suspended since March in the wake of coronavirus pandemic that has left the entire world reeling.
In the last few weeks, players have been slowly and steadily making their way back to their respective training grounds. What started with footballers practicing individually, last week became up to 10 players at a time and now, the number has risen up to 14.
“Our plan for kick-off times during the week would be to play in the afternoon or evening, between 7.30-8pm or 9.30-10pm.
“Over the weekend, there would be three slots: 5pm, 7.30pm, 9.30 or 10pm. It hasn’t been decided yet, we’re looking at it with our broadcasters.
“But obviously, we’d plan for those 5 pm games to be those played up on Spain’s northern coast. Places like Bilbao and San Sebastian, Oviedo and Gijon in LaLiga SmartBank, Depor and Celta over in Galicia, where temperatures in June and July don’t exceed 28°C,” Tebas further said about the timings.
