Real Madrid begins preparations on Monday for a season that is starting earlier than expected for the Whites. Pre-season kicks off on August 4, and the first La Liga match for the Whites will be on Tuesday, August 19, against Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabéu. Fifteen days of preparation seems short, given that the club had requested a postponement of the first match with the support of the AFE and the opposing team. However, the competition judge has decided that there is no room for postponement. In recent years, the Whites have started LaLiga well, so it remains to be seen if they can repeat history with so little time to get ready for a totally new project.
Real Madrid’s request
Both Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid participated in the new Club World Cup held in the United States from June 14 to July 13. If they reached the final stages, as the Whites did, the holidays, preseason, and start of the season would overlap, so a postponement of the first matchday was being considered… or so they thought. The reality is that Xabi Alonso’s team competed in the tournament until the semifinals, playing their match on July 9.
By law, the players had to enjoy three weeks of vacation, which took the team into August, when the start of the league was scheduled for the weekend of August 16-17. That is why the club requested the postponement of the first day of competition, citing the short preparation time. LaLiga’s position was always firm that there were no grounds for force majeure and that other leagues were not going to postpone the first matchday, so the final decision rested with the competition judge.
Real Madrid vs. Osasuna will not be postponed
The judge made his decision official last Friday, rejecting Real Madrid’s appeal, and the match will be played on August 19, with only 15 days of preseason for Xabi Alonso’s team. In his ruling, the judge noted that: “In this regard, it should be noted that a simple analysis of the events shows that the players’ vacation period has been fully respected by the National Professional Football League in determining the start date of the domestic competition. In this regard, Real Madrid played the semifinal of the Club World Cup on July 9, and the players returned to Spain the following day, having begun their rest period the next day, i.e. July 11, so it is clear that the 21 consecutive days established in Article 10.1 of the Collective Agreement for professional football are complied with and respected.
The law stipulates the vacation period, but there is no specific or established time for the preseason. Normally, clubs devote at least 4-5 weeks to preparing for the new season, but there is nothing written or fixed, so Real Madrid will have to settle for two weeks.
LaLiga denies AFE’s claims
The controversy has also arisen because the AFE union claimed that there was a meeting with the captains of the two Madrid teams, Carvajal and Koke, in which an agreement was reached with the employers that if the final stage of the tournament was reached, the first match of the competition would be postponed. However, LaLiga completely denies this.
David Aganzo, president of the AFE, claims that there was a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ to postpone the first match, but LaLiga is clear: there was no agreement, let alone a breach. “There was no prior agreement with the Director of Competitions of LaLiga regarding a possible postponement,” they stated in a press release.
The start of the season in recent years
With no postponement, Real Madrid will take to the field at the Santiago Bernabéu against Osasuna on Tuesday 19th at 9pm. In the last five years, the Whites have always started LaLiga with a point. Last season kicked off on August 18, 2024, at Son Moix against Mallorca with a 1-1 draw where, curiously, the goal was scored by the now discarded Rodrygo.
A year earlier, on August 12, 2023, also away from home, Real Madrid visited Athletic at San Mamés, where they won 0-2 with goals from, once again, Rodrygo and Bellingham. In the 2022/23 season, the campaign began once again away from the Santiago Bernabéu. Specifically, the first matchday took place on August 14 in Almería, where the Whites won 1-2 with goals from Lucas Vázquez and Alaba.
On August 14, 2021, Real Madrid faced Deportivo Alavés in Mendizorroza on the first day of La Liga, winning by a convincing 1-4 with a brace from Benzema and goals from Nacho and Vinicius. The previous season, Real Madrid’s first match was played in February at the Santiago Bernabéu, as the start of the season was postponed for those playing in the Super Cup, so the first match of the La Liga season was actually on the second day, on September 20, with a 0-0 draw in San Sebastián against Real Sociedad.
You have to go back to the 2018-19 season to see a La Liga opener at the Santiago Bernabéu on August 19. It was against Getafe, and the Whites won 2-0 with goals from Dani Carvajal and Gareth Bale.