The Guardian
Spain’s footballers will undergo daily coronavirus tests under a protocol for a return to training La Liga hopes to set in motion from the second week of May.
There will be three stages to training – individual, small group, and full team – and the first tests are pencilled in for next Tuesday. From the second stage, squads will be obliged to live together in isolation, away from their families. A match-day protocol, first drafted in March, is being updated, with the league’s president, Javier Tebas, warning clubs that fans are unlikely to be able to attend games until after Christmas.
An eight-hour meeting Tebas had with the Spanish federation president, Luis Rubiales, and the secretary of state for sport, Irene Lozano, last weekend ended with what the minister described as “a commitment to restart training with a view to completing the season”.
There is recognition from all parties, though, that any return requires approval from health authorities. Fan groups are unhappy at a return behind closed doors and as yet there are no proposals to compensate them, but within the game’s authorities there is a broad acceptance that it will be impossible to restart with supporters.
The league’s three scenarios for a return to competition, in line with Uefa and Europe’s major leagues, plan for a restart on 28 May, 6 June or 28 June. Tebas does not want to contemplate the season being annulled, claiming the cost would be around €1bn (£870,000).
The protocol calls for clubs to be given a month of training where possible, with two weeks of group and full-team sessions following two weeks of individual training. Some clubs are concerned about the plausibility of that plan and returning to competition without sufficient training. That process begins with a four-part protocol written by doctors from three first division clubs and reviewed by medical departments at a further four clubs across the top two divisions. The protocol was distributed to every La Liga side and discussions with medical staff began on Wednesday. It has been shared with other European leagues.
The preliminary stage (phase one) of the protocol for the resumption of training involves at least three tests being carried out on every player before a return to activity, beginning with polymerase chain reaction and serology tests. The league hopes to carry out a first round of tests on 28 April to gain a picture of where they are and establish which players have built up an immunity to the virus. The final test of the first phase must be conducted two days before a return to activity.