La Liga to start on Saturday as strike ends

Spain’s top two divisions will finally get under way on Saturday after further strike action was averted.

Last weekend’s first round of matches was postponed with no deal agreed over a fund to protect players’ wages if their clubs are declared insolvent. But talks between the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) and Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) finally reached a resolution on Thursday.

Real Madrid play at Zaragoza on Sunday and Barcelona host Villareal on Monday. The original opening set of games are now set to played on 22nd January whilst that day’s set of fixtures will be moved to 2nd May. This is because there is a clause in the players’ collective agreement barring fixtures during the festive period.

According to the AFE, clubs in Spain owe around €50m in unpaid salaries to more than 200 players from the end of last season. Newly promoted Real Betis owe around €22.3m in total to their players. The fear of the AFE is that the LFP’s Guaranteed Wage Fund could in no way cover all the wages currently owed or that will be owed in the future.

A statement on the AFE website read: “The committee of the AFE and LFP have reached an agreement that ensured, through various means, the salaries of footballers. After the meeting today between the AFE and the LFP, the strike scheduled for Friday 26 August, Saturday 27 August, Sunday 28 August and Monday 29 August is off.”

Real Mallorca will kick off at home against RCD Espanyol on Sunday with kick off at 5pm BST.

Original article by the BBC, edited for accuracy by realmallorca.co.uk