La Liga strike called off: Barcelona can now win title
- Published
The Spanish football season will be allowed to finish after the week-long Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) suspension and players' strike ended.
After Spain's High Court ruled the players' strike over a TV rights dispute was unlawful, the RFEF reversed a suspension of the end of the season.
Barcelona can win La Liga on Sunday, with a game to spare, if they beat current champions Atletico Madrid.
The Spanish Cup final will also go ahead as planned on 30 May.
Barca - who have also reached the Champions League final, in which they will take on Juventus - play Athletic Bilbao at the Nou Camp in the domestic Copa del Rey final.
Spanish football writer Andy West explains the dispute: |
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"Essentially, the suspension was the result of a power struggle over who runs Spanish football. More specifically, it is the climax of a long-running dispute over the distribution of television revenue, which is heavily weighted in favour of the 'Big Two' of Barcelona and Real Madrid." Read more here. |
The RFEF and players' union (AFE) are not satisfied with a new law introducing collective bargaining for domestic television rights, supported by the National Professional Football League (LFP), which runs Spain's top two professional divisions.
The players who backed a proposed strike believe the split of money in a new deal proposed by the LFP and Spanish government does not do enough for those at lower-ranked clubs.
On Friday, LFP president Javier Tebas announced plans to take legal action against the suspension, warning it could cost 50 million euros (£36m) per matchday in lost revenues.
Key remaining fixtures |
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Sunday, 17 May: Atletico Madrid v Barcelona; Espanyol v Real Madrid |
Saturday, 23 May: Barcelona v Deportivo; Real Madrid v Getafe |
Saturday, 30 May: Copa del Rey final - Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona (Nou Camp) |
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