A Spanish court has suspended the planned players’ strike in La Liga.
The Spanish Football League (LFP) took legal action against the Spanish Federation over its plans to suspend all domestic football from May 16.
Spanish officials and members of the players union had been in discussions to avert the planned strike, which would have affected the final two rounds of La Liga fixtures and the Copa Del Rey final.
However, A Spanish court announced they had suspended the players’ strike in La Liga on Thursday.
Barcelona can win the title on Sunday if they beat Atletico Madrid. Luis Enrique’s side also face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final – another match that was under threat due to the proposed strike.
The root of the dispute is the new law that governs the sale of TV rights in Spain and is effectively a new constitution for Spanish football. The law impose a collective deal for TV rights and was backed by all of the football authorities but, while they supported that principle, the AFE and the RFEF are unhappy at the content of the decree and have decided to act before it goes through congress.
As World Soccer’s Spain correspondent, Sid Lowe wrote on Wednesday:
“At heart, this is a battle for power, a turf war between the government (with the LFP) and the RFEF and a class war between the LFP (and the government) and the AFE. “It’s a battle of egos,” the Getafe president Ángel Torres said, referring to the LFO president Javier Tebas and the RFEF president Ángel María Villar.”
