May 23, 2020 - Sports

Spanish soccer league La Liga plans to resume in June after 3-month hiatus

Rashaan Ayesh

Barcelona player Lionel Messi raising his first during a game — Photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced Saturday that the professional soccer league La Liga and other Spanish teams will be able to resume their season starting June 8 as long as the country continues to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, AP reports.

The state of play: Spain has been working to slowly reopen its economy. Teams have recently begun training at club facilities, but players are practicing individually and regularly being tested for COVID-19. It's not yet clear when the first game will be held.

Several Spanish teams, including Barcelona, had to cut player salaries due to a drop in revenues. La Liga said it was facing a loss of $1 billion if they did not finish the season because of the virus.
Barcelona's first match is scheduled for Mallorca, but there is no date on the books yet, per AP.

The German league, Bundesliga, held its first match last week, but the game was played with no fans in the stadium. It was one of the first major leagues to resume playing since the coronavirus shut down the sporting world, ESPN writes.

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Spanish soccer league La Liga plans to resume in June after 3-month hiatus

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