November 27 – LaLiga President Javier Tebas has said he hopes to have fans back in Spanish stadiums in January or February 2021.
Speaking at the online World Football Summit Live event, he said that in some areas of the country it would already be possible to have fans back in stadia, but the government has refused to lift restrictions until all clubs can open stadia at the same time.
“In some regions of Spain such as the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands or even Madrid, I think we could already have a percentage of fans back in venues. The Spanish Government wants to do this in the whole country at the same time, but this is something we need to discuss because it’s going to be impossible,” said Tebas.
“We can’t have all stadiums closed just because some regions have more infections than others.”
Tebas said he will be taking the issue up with Spain’s National Sports Council.
LaLiga’s plan is to open stadia at around 20-30% capacity by January or February, but full stadiums will likely have to wait until next season.
Speaking on the measures LaLiga has taken to encourage clubs to trade financially solvently during the pandemic (the LaLiga last week introduced an aggressive club-by-club salary cap across both its top divisions forcing wage bills in some cases to be reduced by over 35%), Tebas said that many small and medium-size Spanish clubs are already showing profits despite Covid-19 challenges.
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