Court rules against Spanish football suspension

National federation wanted all Spanish football suspended from May 16 over new tv law.

FC Barcelona v FC Bayern Munich - UEFA Champions League Semi Final
The strike had threatened to cut short the end of La Liga with Barcelona at the top [Getty Images]

A Spanish court has suspended a planned strike by footballers in protest against a new TV rights law, which threatened to shut down the country’s top league at the weekend.

The strike threatened to disrupt the final two matchdays in La Liga because AFE was unhappy with a new law mandating collective bargaining for the sale of television rights.

That provoked a challenge by the LFP who argued the action was illegal.

However, it remains unclear whether the remaining two rounds of La Liga games will be played because the Spanish football federation (RFEF), who are also unhappy with the law, has said it will suspend competition indefinitely from Saturday.

The new TV law, approved last month and backed by the LFP, would replace the current system under which rights are marketed by individual clubs, unique among Europe’s top leagues where collective bargaining is used.

The measure aims to share out cash more fairly between teams, starting from season 2016-17, and remove some of the weighting towards the richest and most successful clubs such as Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The AFE supports the idea of collective bargaining but is less than pleased with the share of cash set aside for second division clubs.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies