The Spanish Football Federation presented on April 13 to the First Division clubs a calendar proposal for the 2023-24 seasonwhich includes a total of 65 days between trips, concentrations and matches to meet the commitments of the National Team derived from the so-called FIFA dates. An increase of 19 days (three weeks) compared to the previous campaign. “There is more than a year left for the World Cup and It’s a real barbarity”assures Relevo the president of a club, who prefers to remain anonymous.
The planning, which must be ratified, has generated malaise among a large number of teams that, halfway between resignation and fear of possible federative reprisals, they assume the proposal designed by the RFEF (which recovered the organization of the competition at the end of 2019). The calendar causes imbalances with accumulation of parties in some months and very long disconnections in others due to the long scheduled FIFA breaks. “This way it is impossible to keep the fans connected”, explains a general manager immersed in his club’s season ticket campaign.
The celebration of the qualifying phase for the World Cup in Uzbekistan forces the start of the league to be brought forward one week and the League will start on September 2. Taking into account that the term to formalize the registration, as well as all the requirements (financial guarantee) to play in the First Division, ends at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, July 17, The clubs hope that the draw for the calendar will be expedited and that they will not have to wait for August 3 like last season.
The vast majority of teams will begin the preseason at the end of the month with medical examinations and presentations. After the first two days, it will arrive the first stop of the selection from 11 to 20 September to play two qualifying matches for the World Cup against the Czech Republic (09/15) and Italy (9/20). In addition, on September 27, the recovery of matchday 8 is set for the matches that Mallorca, Palma Futsal and Barça have to play as Spanish representatives in the UEFA Futsal Champions League.
The current European champion and the League champion will play the Main Round between October 24 and 29. The Balearic Islands will host Group 3 in Son Moix and will play Kazakh Kairat Almaty, Hungarian Haladás VSE and Luxembourg FC Differdange 03. And the Barça team will travel to Serbia to face RSC Anderlecht (Belgium), Luxol St. Andrews Futsal (Malta) and KMF Loznica-Grad 2018 within Group 2. The first three classified will play the Elite Round between November 28 and December 3.
After the dispute of the third and fourth days, the second break with a new FIFA date from October 2 to 11, in which a double confrontation will be played at home and away against Slovenia (6 and 10). From there, as a coach admits to Relevo “You play the season in just over 2 months. All the options of the teams in the Copa del Rey and especially the Spanish Cup go through reach the hardest peak of the calendar in tune”.
It refers to 56-day stretch between October 14 and December 9 with a total of 12 matches played (11 in the League and one tie for the Copa del Rey). That could be up to 13 (1 every 96 hours) for the two rivals from Palma and Barça, who will have to play the recovery of matchday 14 on November 8 for the Elite Round of the UEFA Futsal Champions League on November 2. December. The end of the first round is scheduled for December 9 with the 15th round and it will be then when the eight teams that will play the 2024 Spanish Cup will be known.
2023 will end with the third stop of the selection from December 11 to 20 to close group D of the Elite Round of the qualifying phase for the 2024 World Cup. Spain will face the Czech Republic (12/15) and Italy-Spain (12/20). The first day of the second (16th) round will be held on December 23, just before the Christmas break. 2024 will open with the dispute of the Spanish Super Cup, almost certainly at the Olivo Arena in Jaén on January 6 and 7.The yellow team will act as host as champion of the Spanish Cup against Barça, champion of the Play Off for the League title; Mallorca Palma Futsal, winner of the regular League and Jimbee Cartagena, who enters as runner-up in the Copa del Rey and se qualifies for the first time for this competition.
In January only one league match will be playeda circumstance that, together with the Christmas holidays and the fourth and longest break of the season designed by the RFEF, scheduled from February 17 to 11 (25 days), they will make a team eliminated from the Copa del Rey and that does not play the round of 16 of the cup tournament, only plays one official match in 51 days. The competition will return on with the celebration of the 18th day on Valentine’s Day. In one month, from February 14 to March 16, there will be 7 league games and the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey will be played. “The point loads are uneven. You go from playing 3 in a month to fighting for 21 at the same time”analyzes a sports director.
“In addition, the South American players will come from the World Cup qualifiers and those of other nationalities from qualifying tournaments. It’s a long time away”, Add. In the case of Spain, as the RFEF made public, it is the only break in which The friendlies that the National Team will play are yet to be defined, although the draft calendar presented to the clubs included a supposed preparation of the Confederations Cup, but there is nothing confirmed about this tournament.
The most awaited competition by fans, the Spanish Cup is delayed more than a month compared to the Granada 2023 appointment (February 9-12). The first eight classified at the end of the first round will meet in Cartagena from March 21 to 24, 2024. the fifth and The last stop of the National Team will arrive from April 8 to 17 in which if Spain is not classified it should play a playoff and if he is, he will play a couple of friendlies in those ten days that the FIFA calendar marks.
The UEFA Futsal Champions League Final Four will be played on May 2 and 3 y the conclusion of the regular League is brought forward to May 11 (two weeks in advance with respect to 2023). It should be noted that a team that achieves permanence and does not play a playoff for the title could go five months without playing an official matchsince the World Cup in Uzbekistan will be held from September 14 to October 6, 2024, Taking as a reference what happened in Lithuania 2021, the 2024-25 Primera División would return on the weekend of October 12-13, more than five months (154 days) after the last league match of the 2023-24 season.
The Final Four of the Copa del Rey, which could also be held in an Andalusian city, is scheduled for May 18 and 19. The following weekend will begin the playoffs to the title with the same format than last season. The quarterfinals (May 24, 27 and 30) and the semifinals (June 3, 6 and 9) to the best of three and the final to five games (14, 16, 21, 23 and 28). “The calendar is nonsense and only protects the interests of the RFEF, seriously undermining the interests of the clubs, but we already know that they don’t care about us at all”, concludes a renowned leader of Spanish futsal.
Gustavo Muñana is a writer specializing in futsal. He began working at Diario AS and later went through SportsYA!.Com and has collaborated with GQ magazine, Radio Marca and Cope, among other media. He has spent fifteen years coordinating local press publications in the south of Madrid and commenting on futsal matches in the main national and international competitions on Teledeporte, MarcaTV, Energy, Eurosport and Gol Televisión. Currently, he is an analyst for LNFS matches on LaLigaSports TV. Passionate about management, he is Sports Director for the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the University of Castilla La Mancha and Expert in Futsal Club Management at the Faculty of Sports Sciences of the University of Castilla La Mancha. …
2023-07-15 09:52:39
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