Why are Real Madrid & Barcelona not playing in opening weekend of LaLiga 2026-27?

The Blaugrana will begin their title defence against Elche.

The new LaLiga campaign usually starts in the mid-to-late week of August. The Spanish top-tier league has kicked off. Deportivo Alaves vs Getafe was the first game of the 2026-27 campaign.

With the weekend approaching, fans were waiting to see the reigning champions FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in action. Neither of these two giants will be in action until August 22, which is next week.

On the opening day of the LaLiga 2026-27 season, the second match took place between Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano. Alaves secured an easy 3-0 victory in the first game and Sevilla came out on top with a 2-1 win in the other.

Newly promoted Racing Santander will go up against Villarreal and Espanyol will lock horns with UD Levante on Sunday, August 16. Two more clubs who have returned to the Spanish top flight are Deportivo La Coruña and Málaga. These sides performed really well in the Segunda Division last season and it will be interesting to see their efforts this time around.

Also Read: Atletico Madrid predicted starting lineup after signing Cristian Romero

Why are Madrid and Barca not playing in the opening weekend?

Six games are being played across the opening matchday, but the two biggest clubs of LaLiga, Real Madrid and Barcelona, will not be in action.

Four matches have been pushed back to late August due to an agreement between LaLiga and Spain’s players’ union, the AFE. This includes the mandatory break for all the stars whose national teams reached the semifinal stage of the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Spain went on to defeat Argentina in the final of the expanded competition. England battled it out against France to secure the bronze medal on the grandest stage of them all.

For Barcelona, stars like Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Dani Olmo and Pau Cubarsi have recently returned to training. On the other hand, Real Madrid have welcomed back Kylian Mbappe, Marc Cucurella, Jude Bellingham and others after the intense World Cup campaign.

Under their new manager, Los Blancos will begin their 2026-27 campaign on August 22 against Espanyol. It will be the first match for Jose Mourinho under his second spell as the manager of Real Madrid.

Led by Hansi Flick, the Blaugrana will begin their new LaLiga campaign against Elche on Sunday, August 23. This will allow some more time to recover for the players who will be coming from the post-World Cup break.

After months of debate, a proposal to ‘split’ the opening gameweek was unanimously agreed by La Liga’s club representatives on June 9.

Atletico Madrid had more players than any other club taking part in the FIFA World Cup 2026 final. Alex Baena, Alejandro Grimaldo, Marcos Llorente and Marc Pubill for Spain and Julián Álvarez, Giuliano Simeone, Juan Musso, Nahuel Molina and Thiago Almada for Argentina.

There was a chance for Atleti’s game against Malaga to also have been postponed to late August, but the music sensation The Weeknd is set to play concerts at their Metropolitano stadium on the 28th, 29th and 30th of the month. With that, the Diego Simeone-led side will host Malaga on Wednesday, August 19.

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