Professional sports in Spain have been given the go-ahead to resume training from May 4 as part of the country’s plan to get out of lockdown, beginning with the allowance of individual training sessions as part of the Preparatory Phase of the schedule announced on Tuesday by the country’s president Pedro Sanchez.
This news of a possible return to sporting action came on the same day when the French President completely ruled out any such return, where football could only be played earliest in September.
Training sessions at club centres in the La Liga will be allowed in Phase 1, which gets underway on May 11, although there will remain added measures in place to avoid a second peak of the virus.
La Liga has already sent clubs a detailed set of protocols to follow once training is allowed, including a preparation phase followed by individual practices, smaller group sessions and finally full squad sessions.
Before Sanchez’s evening announcement, La Liga president Javier Tebas had thrown his support behind a controlled return to action.
Tebas said in a statement: “I do not understand why there would more danger in playing football behind closed doors, with all precautionary measures, than working on an assembly line, being on a fishing boat on the high seas.
“If important economic sectors cannot restart, in a safe and controlled manner, they could end up disappearing. That could happen to professional football.
“In other countries teams are already training, that’s the example to follow.
“In Spain, football is an important economic driver that we need to reactivate like many others. We continue to focus on this reactivation, in a responsible manner and adhering to health recommendations, as soon as possible.”