Inside La Liga: Spanish football off to a stumbling start

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and company returned to action over the weekend - mercifully ending an off-season remarkable for the infighting and incompetence of those running Spanish football.

Before the summer even started, the rows had begun. The La Liga authorities [LFP] wanted 2015/16 to begin on August 15, but the Spanish federation [RFEF] and Players Union [AFE] wanted a later start. It took until mid-July, with clubs already into their pre-season programmes, before Spain’s sports minister Miguel Cardenal mandated an August 22 commencement.

The LFP then released the fixture list, only for the government to again reschedule many games and push the season end back to May 22, a week after most of Europe’s other major leagues. This led national coach Vicente Del Bosque to complain that “nobody thinks of Spain”, saying the new date would disrupt his Euro 2016 preparations.