La Liga Plan B as COVID throttles Spain again

Article by Coliseum, published September 25, 2020

Image: MJR Group Ltd./Coliseum

As Spain passes 700,000 coronavirus cases and Madrid braces for ‘tough weeks ahead’, scientists say the country deserves second full lockdown. As per latest reports, daily deaths in Spain due to the deadly virus are at highest level since early May.

Against such a scenario, in case the respective region of each Primera División (men’s top professional football division in Spain) club is forced to go for a pandemic-triggered lockdown, each La Liga club was recently forced to select an alternative stadium to continue playing, outside their locality.

The Primera División, commonly known as La Liga, is the men’s top professional football division of the Spanish football league system.

On September 17^th, 2020, all La Liga clubs confirmed their alternative stadia for the 2020-21 seasons.

The above step has been necessitated prompted by Spain’s new policy of locking down regions most affected by coronavirus which is back with a vengeance in the country.

With lockdown almost staring the country in the face and should such a scenario arise, each team has to have a reserve ground to relocate to and continue playing football. Obviously, only facility outside the respective teams’ home region may be included.

Here is few La Liga clubs’ coronavirus contingency plan:

The Spanish football club Deportivo Alavés whose home ground is the Mendizorrotza Stadium in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, will relocate to El Sadar Stadium in Navarre, Spain, the residence of Spanish football team CA Osasuna;
Athletic Bilbao is a Spanish professional football club based in the City of Bilbao in the Basque Country in Spain, and their residence is the San Mamés Stadium. The Athletic Bilbao will relocate to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville, Spain, the residence of Spanish professional football club Sevilla FC;
The Spanish professional football club Atlético de Madrid is based in Madrid, Spain, and their residence is Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. The Atlético de Madrid will relocate to Reale Arena in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain, which is the home venue of La Liga side Real Sociedad;
The Spanish professional football club FC Barcelona is based in Barcelona, Spain, and their residence is Camp Nou. FC Barcelona will move to the Son Moix Stadium in Palma, Spain, the home venue of Spanish football club Real Mallorca;
The Spanish professional football club Real Betis is based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, and their residence is the Benito Villamarín Stadium. Real Betis will move to Estadi Ciutat de València in Valencia, Spain, the home venue of Spanish football club Levante UD; and
The professional football club Cádiz is based in Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain, and their residence is Estadio Ramón de Carranza. Cádiz will move to Estadio Carlos Belmonte – a multipurpose stadium in Albacete, Spain, and the home venue of Spanish football team Albacete Balompié.

The league started on September 12^th without a single spectator. League boss Javier Tebas does not expect fans to return to the Spanish La Liga until the beginning of 2021.

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