WORLD CUP | Real Madrid’s La Liga Opener vs Real Sociedad Set to Be Postponed

Real Madrid’s La Liga opening match against Real Sociedad is expected to be postponed under La Liga’s policy for clubs with at least one player involved in the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-finals, according to Yahoo Sports. With France set to face Morocco in the quarter-finals, Real Madrid are guaranteed to have a player reach the semi-finals through Morocco’s Brahim Diaz or France’s Kylian Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni and Ibrahima Konate. La Liga is scheduled to start on the weekend of August 14-16, and president Javier Tebas said World Cup players will receive three weeks of holiday and three weeks of pre-season under the agreement with the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE), prompting the league to split the opening matchday and move some games to a midweek date later in August. Tebas said the postponed first-matchday games could be played between the second and third matchdays, while other fixtures that could be affected include Barcelona vs Athletic Club, Atletico Madrid vs Malaga and Celta Vigo vs Osasuna, depending on which players reach the World Cup semi-finals.