Football in Spain Eyes Mid-June Return as La Liga Players Will Be Coronavirus Tested Next Week

FOOTBALL is inching close to a return in Spain with the news that La Liga clubs will be able to test players for the coronavirus next week, with matches perhaps resuming as early as mid-June.

The Supreme Sports Council (CSD) has said that the Health Ministry has approved its protocol for professional sportsmen and sportswomen to resume individual training at club facilities, including those belonging to football clubs.

That followed a CSD meeting with the country’s top sporting bodies, including La Liga representatives and football players union delegates.

“Regarding tests for the detection of Covid-19, the council informed those present that medical staff from professional clubs will be able to carry it out,” the CSD said in a statement.

La Liga had plans to start testing players this week, but need to wait on official authorisation from the Spanish government and health authorities.

The testing is needed for individual training at football clubs to take place, and is just one step ahead of La Liga trying to finish off its season, which was interrupted in mid-March due to the pandemic.

Reports suggest that club doctors will only be able to administer tests by prescription and only if players have shown some symptoms or been exposed to people who may have the coronavirus.

That in effect appears to go against La Liga hopes for a series of ongoing tests for players in a bid to get the fixture list concluded.

After next week’s tests, players will be allowed to begin training, individually, in club facilities, with further assessments to be made by the Health Ministry to see if small group, and then full squad training can happen.

Once those hurdles have been negotiated successfully, then an option of playing games behind closed doors might eventually come into play.

Other countries like France and the Netherlands have already scrapped their seasons, but it is clear that La Liga is determined not to call it quits just yet, though it could be mid-June at the earliest that action may resume.

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Alex Trelinski

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