BarcelonaThe League stops to make way for the qualifying matches for the World Cup for the national teams, and Barça does not know when it will be their turn to play. The Spanish League yesterday asked to postpone the duel of Ronald Koeman’s team on the fourth day at the Sevilla field, scheduled for Saturday, September 11, after seeing how the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) rejected the precautionary measures requested by LaLiga so that the South American team players did not have to make the trip, since they would not arrive in time to go out on the pitch, a fact that “would imply adulterate the competition.”
On August 7, FIVA agreed to exceptionally extend the selection period for two more days and only for South American teams, to compensate for the matches not played in March 2021 in South America due to the pandemic. These two more days mean that the players would not arrive in time to play the fourth day of the League, which is why the Spanish club management presented an appeal to the TAS that has not been successful. FIFA welcomed the court’s response yesterday, as it “confirms the legality of FIFA’s decision and completely rejects LaLiga’s arguments.” The Spanish League affirmed that it will continue to fight in the courts, but for now it has already announced that it will put charter flights to the players and asks to modify the schedules of the matches. Thus, Espanyol would have to host Atlético Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and the Barça game would be postponed. The proposal to modify the calendar, however, would first have to be validated by the Competition Committee of the Spanish Federation.
