Why Real Madrid want to postpone their first La Liga game of the new season

New York Times

2 days ago

Real Madrid have submitted a request to postpone their first game of the 2025-26 La Liga season over concerns their players will not have enough rest following their Club World Cup campaign.
Madrid are slated to face Osasuna in their opening La Liga match on August 19. They face Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the tournament in the United States on Wednesday, with a possible final next Sunday.
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Sources involved in the matter — who, like all cited in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss proceedings, say that Madrid and the AFE (Spanish professional footballers' association) have sent letters to La Liga, requesting the postponement. La Liga will consider that request before making a decision.
Sources told The Athletic that in May — the two Spanish sides competing at the Club World Cup, Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and their respective captains, Dani Carvajal and Koke, reached an agreement with La Liga, the RFEF (the Spanish FA) and the AFE to postpone those clubs' first league fixtures if they reached the quarter-finals of the competition. This was to ensure that the teams would have at least three weeks of pre-season before the first La Liga fixtures of 2025-26.
Additionally, a previously agreed collective agreement with the AFE, which was last updated in 2023, states that players are entitled to three weeks of continuous holiday per year (in addition to another nine days), which is only possible to take between the end of one season and the beginning of the next pre-season — meaning six weeks minimum would be needed between the end of their participation at the Club World Cup and the first La Liga game of the new campaign. FIFPro, the global players' union, has called for a minimum four-week off-season break for players after publishing a study on the subject in June, ahead of the start of the Club World Cup.
That means that Madrid's planned game against Osasuna — which is already scheduled on the Tuesday, the final day possible of the opening La Liga matchweek — breaches the agreements due to their progress in the Club World Cup.
Even if Madrid are knocked out by PSG in the semi-finals, they will have only 40 days between the day after the game (which would be the first day of holiday) and the Osasuna match. If they reach the final on July 13, they would then have just 36 days between the start of their holiday and the Osasuna game. That would leave an 18- or 14-day window in which to have a pre-season, if Madrid adhered to the three-week break following their Club World Cup exploits.
If La Liga agrees to postpone the Osasuna game, Madrid's first La Liga fixture would instead be against newly-promoted Real Oviedo on August 24, and they would have just enough time in the event they reach the final of the Club World Cup. Madrid have yet to schedule any pre-season fixtures.
Atletico, meanwhile, were knocked out in the group stage of the Club World Cup, with their last fixture coming on June 23. That meant they had no such issues with the six-week period between that game and the start of the La Liga season. All other teams in the Spanish top-flight have been out of action since the final match of the 2024-25 domestic season, the weekend of May 24-25.
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In October, Pep Guardiola said the Premier League 'did not allow' its Club World Cup participants Manchester City and Chelsea to postpone their opening games of the 2025-26 campaign in order to allow more time for players to recover. City were knocked out of the summer tournament by Al Hilal on July 1, while Chelsea have also reached the semi-finals, where they face Fluminense. When approached for comment at the time, the Premier League said this was an example of the challenges that domestic leagues would face as a result of the alterations to the football calendar made by FIFA. Chelsea and Manchester City have been given opening Premier League fixtures on August 17 and 16 respectively.
Last summer, many members of Madrid's squad were involved in the European Championship and Copa America, with the tournaments staging their finals on July 14. The team flew to the U.S. for a pre-season tour two weeks later, with some squad members, including Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, absent due to France and England's involvement in the latter stages of Euro 2024.
In May 2024, FIFPro and the World Leagues Association, which represents global professional football leagues, threatened FIFA with legal action over the scheduling of the tournament. World football's governing body responded by saying it had ensured player welfare is safeguarded and the Club World Cup schedule had been aligned with the international match calendar to allow sufficient time before the start of the new season.