Primera Iberdrola restart brought forward to October 4
Primera Iberdrola restart brought forward to October 4
The RFEF have confirmed that the Primera Iberdrola will kick off on the weekend of October 3, whilst the Reto Iberdrola is set to begin on October 17
On Monday, the board of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) approved the decision to bring forward the restart of the Primera Iberdrola to the weekend of October 3.
The decision was fully ratified when the National Sports Council (CSD) gave the green light to the protocols for starting the competitions and after an agreement was reached with the participating clubs.
Athletic Club will play the first weekend of the competition two weeks earlier than previously expected (October 18) but also one month later than the first date proposed for the return of play (September 5).
The competition rules have also been approved, these include some extraordinary measures in light of COVID-19: teams can now make five changes during a fixture (before it was four), and the number of players who must have a professional contract has risen from a minimum of 12 to 14.
Reto Iberdrola, divided into subgroups
As for the Reto Iberdrola -the Second Division- the competition will begin on the weekend of October 17. In a similar vein to other divisions managed by the RFEF, the two existing subgroups -North and South- have been further divided. There will be two new subgroups for each league, the new groups will contain eight or nine teams each based on geographical proximity.
Subgroups A (with eight teams) will play a total of 14 fixtures and in Subgroups B (nine teams) they will play 18 fixtures. The teams will also be able to make five substitutes and the amount of obligatory professional contracts has increased from four to six.
The competition will contain two phases: first a regular league and then a second with specific stages. In the second phase, the top four from each subgroup from the North and South groups will form a new promotion subgroup (eight teams), where they will contest the Group Champion title.
The rest of the teams will go into the relegation subgroup and will fight for their place in the Reto Iberdrola. The promotion and relegation subgroups will face those who did not compete in Phase One. To determine promotion or relegation, the Phase One league table will also be influenced by a coefficients points system.