Soccer

Second division clash to get the ball rolling in Spain after three-month pause

Rayo Vallecano and Albacete to play second half of a game abandoned in December

Roman Zozulya of Albacete Balompie competes for the ball with Antonio Milic of Rayo Vallecano during the abandoned Segunda Division match in February at Carlos Belmonte Stadium in Albacete, Spain. Photogaph: Mateo Villalba/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Wed Jun 3 2020 - 16:20

The Spanish soccer season will restart a day earlier than originally planned on June 10th with the second half of a second division match between Rayo Vallecano and Albacete that was postponed last December due to offensive chanting.

A statement from the Spanish soccer federation said both sides had agreed to play the match from the second half without any spectators.

La Liga will start up again on June 11th with a local derby between Sevilla and Real Betiswithout spectators after a three-month pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Segunda Division will properly kick into action on June 12th with four matches.

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The Rayo-Albacete match was goalless when it was abandoned at half-time after Rayo fans chanted against Albacete’s Ukrainian forward Roman Zozulya, accusing him of being a Nazi and belonging to far-right groups in his home country.

It was the first and only time a Spanish football match has been abandoned for offensive chanting, even though racist chanting has taken place at several matches since, including Espanyol’s January game with Athletic Bilbao.

Zozulya signed in 2017 for Rayo, whose hardcore fans identify with Spain’s far-left and anti-fascist movements, but left the club without playing a match after supporters gave him a hostile reception at his first training session.

Zozulya has denied belonging to far-right groups.

Fans will not be able to attend Spanish matches when the season resumes for sporting reasons rather than safety concerns, junior sports minister Irene Lozano has said.

The health ministry is examining the risks of fans attending matches in regions where there was a low risk of infection after Las Palmas president Miguel Angel Ramirez said he hoped spectators could attend his side’s matches in the Canary Islands where the virus is less prevalent.

Unfair advantage

But Lozano said that would create an unfair advantage as some teams would be backed by supporters while others in regions with a higher risk of infection would have to play their home matches without spectators.

“Right now it’s impossible to have fans in the stadiums for sporting reasons. The agreement we reached with La Liga was to restart the campaign behind closed doors,”said Lozano.

“We have to respect the integrity of the competition, La Liga is a national competition and we made a big effort to ensure teams trained in the same conditions.

“Until all provinces are in the same phase of de-escalation it’s impossible to have matches with crowds.”

Lozano did leave the door open to supporters returning once Spain’s state of emergency, which the government is seeking to extend until June 21th, is over. But she also appeared to criticise Ramirez for reopening the debate.

“It’s important to not cause confusion. The agreement we made with La Liga was to restart the season behind closed doors. If in exceptional circumstances we could go down a different path, then we will look into it,” she added.

“The president of Las Palmas spoke about this on his own volition. A competition is a collaboration between many people and it’s vital that everyone works together. If everyone starts inventing new ideas and rules then the product is not good.”

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