Spanish football fans can start preparing for next season after officials met on Thursday to decide that the 2016/17 will kick off on August 21.
They have also provisionally agreed that the curtain raiser of the Supercopa de Espana – between the winners of this season’s Copa del Rey and La Liga – will take place on August 12 and 15.
La Liga assembly have pencilled in the important dates in next season’s football calendar which will be put to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to rubber stamp.
The schedule has been set up for August and September to coincide with the end of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
However some clubs have already found fault with the dates.
For example, if Sevilla does not win either the Copa del Rey or the Europa League and remains seventh in the table, the team would be involved in the play-offs on August 18.
They have argued the cup could be played on August 13 and 16 while Real Madrid want the dates moved to August 14 and 17.
The final decision will presumably be made when Sevilla’s situation is definitely known after they play in the final against Barcelona on May 28.
The calendar takes into account that there will no matches between December 23 and January 2, 2017.
“There won’t be any football at Christmas because the agreement signed with the Spanish football association AFE says we will not play,” explained LFP president Javier Tebas, who added that the league will be preparing promotional events and activities like last year.