European football leagues (La Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A, etc.) 2024-25 Discussion Thread

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When do the European Leagues start? Review of all start dates

Europe's top leagues are ready to return to action after an intense summer that included the Euro Cup and the Olympic Games. At FCBN we review the calendars of the most important tournaments, starting with LaLiga

The 2024/25 season is already underway in Europe. Last weekend the action began in Portugal, Turkey and the Netherlands, while LaLiga EA Sports will do the same this Thursday, August 15 with the Athletic-Getafe duel in San Mamés (17:00 CEST). Like last season, the calendar will extend over nine and a half months, until May 25, 2025, except for the forced rescheduling of one or several days.

Matchday 1 includes Betis-Girona on Thursday at 9:30 p.m., while on Friday Celta-Alavés (7:00 p.m.) and Las Palmas-Seville (9:30 p.m.) will be played. On Saturday it will be the turn of FC Barcelona's debut with the visit to Valencia (9:30 p.m.). Previously, Osasuna will host Leganés starting at 7:00 p.m. On Sunday there will be two matches: Real Sociedad-Rayo (7:00 p.m.) and Mallorca-Real Madrid (9:30 p.m.), while Monday closes the date with Valladolid-Espanyol (7:00 p.m.) and Villarreal-Atlético (21 :30).

Portugal, Türkiye and the Netherlands, the first to start

The Turkish Super League was the first to start this summer. The tournament began on Friday, August 9, with Galatasaray's narrow victory against Hataysport (2-1). On matchday 1 that ended this Monday, José Mourinho's Fenerbahce debuted by winning at home against Adana (1-0) with a goal from the experienced Edin Dzeko. As usually happens in this tournament, a head-to-head match is expected from start to finish between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, with Okan Buruk's team being the current champions.

For its part, the Eredivisie also got its season underway on Friday with Groningen's rout of the NAC (4-1). The defending champion, PSV Eindhoven, made its debut with a 'little hand' against Waalwijk (5-1) on Saturday, while Ajax won by a narrow margin against Heerenveen (1-0). The other league that started on August 9 was the Portuguese one. Sporting CP began its title defense by defeating Río Ave at home (3-1). Their main rivals in the fight for the championship, Benfica and Porto, had mixed luck in their debut. The 'eagles' fell to Famalicao (2-0) and the 'dragons' beat Gil Vicente at home (3-0).

The Premier, Ligue 1 and Serie A, on par with LaLiga

In addition to LaLiga, three other major European leagues begin this weekend. In the Premier the ball will roll this Friday, August 16 at Old Trafford with United-Fulham. The great game of the day will be Chelsea-City on Sunday at Stamford Bridge, in what could be a difficult debut for the champions, although the Blues have just had a poor pre-season in the United States.

Ligue 1 also begins on Friday, a tournament with much less appeal due to the number of figures that Paris Saint-Germain has lost. After the departures of Leo Messi and Neymar Jr. last summer, Kylian Mbappé has gone to Real Madrid and, at the moment, there are no signings capable of covering the loss of Bondy. Luis Enrique's men make their debut against Le Havre as visitors. In the case of Serie A, matchday 1 starts on Saturday with Genoa-Inter and Parma-Fiorentina.

The Bundesliga will be the last major European league to start

The last of the major European leagues to start 2024/25 will be the Bundesliga. The hosts of the last Euro Cup postponed their first matchday to Friday, August 23, with Mönchengladbach-Leverkusen being the opening match. Bayern Munich will seek revenge after last season's fiasco starting on Sunday the 25th, with a visit to Wolfburg. UEFA expects all domestic leagues to conclude by May 31, as the FIFA Club World Cup begins on June 15, 2025, which will take place in the United States.

Changes to the calendar of European competitions

In that sense, the European competition calendars will undergo some modifications this season due to their new formats. The Europa League and the Conference League will emulate the Champions League by replacing the group stage with a league stage with 36 clubs, of which the top 8 advance to the round of 16, while those from 9th to 24th must compete in a 'play off' to complete the final table. The league phase of the Champions League begins on September 17, while in the Europa League it will begin on September 25. Finally, the Conference will begin its league on October 3.

SOURCE: https://www.fcbarcelonanoticias.com...-start-review-all-start-dates_306405_102.html
 

Real players may get holidays in season - Ancelotti​


Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says the club are considering giving players holidays during the season to cope with fixture congestion.

Ancelotti's comments come amid the Professional Footballers' Association announcing in June that it, with the support of players' union Fifpro, has joined a legal action against Fifa over the "overloaded and unworkable" football calendar.

"The players need rest, they need holidays and we are thinking about giving individual holidays to the players during the season," said Ancelotti.

"We are thinking about giving in-season breaks, give a week off for a player so he can go and stay with his family, especially international players, who have very little rest because they usually don't get even a day's holiday in international breaks.

"We are assessing it with the medical staff and the physical preparation."

Real Madrid won the La Liga title and Champions League last season before a number of their squad were involved in Euro 2024 or the Copa America during the summer.

This season, all three European club competitions will be expanded to 36 teams. The Champions League and Europa League will have eight first-phase games compared to the six in the 2023-24 campaign.

Real will play in a new Fifa Intercontinental Cup competition in December 2024, which will involve the winners of the Champions League facing a team that comes through intercontinental play-offs.

The La Liga campaign finishes on 25 May, 2025 before the Champions League final on 31 May.

There will then by a window of international games from 2-10 June before the start of the extended Fifa Club World Cup.

"At the moment we still don't even know the date [of the Club World Cup], same with the Intercontinental Cup," added Ancelotti, who side beat Atalanta to win the Uefa Super Cup on Wednesday.

"We are bidding for seven titles but we still don't know when or how.

"The 2025-26 season might start earlier because of the [2026] World Cup, so we have to plan accordingly starting this season.

"For example, when Vinicius Jr comes back after playing with Brazil, instead of playing in La Liga, he rests for three or four days, he goes on holiday and then he comes back.

"That's the only way. Normally those players train, even if they don't play. But we're going to take that away, let them do what they want on those days. That's what we're going to do."

 
La Liga matches set to be postponed after flash floods

All football matches in the Valencia region, including Real Madrid's visit to Valencia on Saturday, are set to be postponed this weekend after the devastating flash floods in Spain.

At least 95 people have died after torrential rain in the country, with the town of Chiva, near Valencia, receiving more than a year's worth of rain in eight hours.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has received a request from La Liga and the clubs to push back all matches in the area in the top two professional divisions.

That also includes Villarreal against Rayo Vallecano in the top flight, plus Castellon v RC Ferrol, CD Eldense against SD Huesca and Malaga's trip to Levante in the Segunda division.

The decision needs to be finalised by the RFEF's competition committee on Thursday but the federation has recommended all non-professional matches are also postponed.

A minute's silence will be held at all of the matches that do go ahead over the next two weekends.

The move comes after Valencia's match against Parla Escuela scheduled for Wednesday, and a host of other Copa del Rey matches, were postponed.


 

European Leagues FT Scores (23-11-2024)

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