MADRID: The Spanish players’ union (AFE) said on Thursday it would seek millions of euros in damages from the professional league (LFP) after it failed to get the schedule for today’s five La Liga matches changed.
A Madrid court decided it was unable to resolve the union’s dispute with the league about kickoff times on a day which is considered a holiday under a 2008 accord between the two organisations.
Under Spanish law, a different court should hear the case, judges Ricardo Bodas, Manuel Poves and Enrique De No Alonso-Misol said in a statement.
The ruling means today’s matches, including Barcelona versus Levante and Valencia against Espanyol, can go ahead as planned and the threat of postponement has been lifted.
AFE president Luis Rubiales told reporters the court had upheld the substance of the union’s complaint and it would seek as much as 20mil (US$26.5mil) from the LFP, equivalent to the amount the league said would be lost if the matches had to be postponed.
“In the past things were done the way the league wanted but that is over now,” Rubiales said.
“If they (the LFP) fix the amount that would have been lost if we had not played on Jan 2 at 18-20mil then we will claim an amount along those lines,” he added.
Abdon Pedrajas, an AFE lawyer, said the union would recommend to its members that they play today’s matches.
The problem was partly caused by the practice in Spain of fixing kickoff times around 10 days before matches, unlike in rival European leagues where times are decided many months in advance.
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