La Liga Returns: Subdued Start Amid World Cup Aftermath
La Liga returns in muted mood as Spain’s World Cup glow lingers.
Less than a month after Spain lifted the World Cup, the grind of club football is back. La Liga, always eager to set the pace, becomes the first of Europe’s major domestic leagues to kick off this weekend — but the start feels oddly subdued.
One match is already off the slate. Two giants are missing from opening weekend. And a fungus has literally eaten into the schedule.
Fungus, delays and a quiet opening
Celta Vigo’s planned home opener against Osasuna on Sunday has been pushed back to August 27 after a fungus outbreak damaged the Balaídos pitch. Groundskeepers lost the race against time; the fixture simply couldn’t go ahead.
The league’s other headline absentees are Barcelona and Real Madrid. Both will sit out the first round of games after sending a heavy contingent of players to the World Cup and agreeing to a delayed return.
Barcelona, chasing a third straight league title, won’t begin its defense until August 23, away at Elche. Real Madrid, reshaped under José Mourinho after a second straight season without a major trophy, starts a day earlier, on August 22, away to Espanyol.
The curtain actually lifts on Saturday when Alaves hosts Getafe. Later that day, Sevilla welcomes Rayo Vallecano.
Sunday brings a nostalgic name back into the top flight. Racing Santander, absent from La Liga for 14 years, marks its return at home to last season’s third-place finisher, Villarreal. Espanyol also hosts Levante.
The European club season, though, already has its first piece of silverware handed out. Paris Saint-Germain beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the UEFA Super Cup final on Wednesday to officially get things moving.
Barcelona’s three-peat bid
Barcelona’s title defense is built on a familiar, glittering core. Many of the players who just delivered Spain’s second World Cup crown are now back in club colors: Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Pedri and Pau Cubarsí all form the backbone of Hansi Flick’s squad.
One of Spain’s World Cup heroes is unlikely to join them for long. Ferran Torres, who scored the extra-time winner in the World Cup final against Argentina, is reportedly in talks over a move to PSG. His departure would strip Barcelona of a decisive big-game scorer, but the club has already moved to refresh its attack.
England forward Anthony Gordon has arrived to help compensate for the exit of veteran striker Robert Lewandowski. Gordon’s direct running and intensity offer a different profile up front as Barcelona tries to blend the glow of its World Cup stars with a new attacking edge.
Mourinho’s Madrid, revamped and restless
Across the capital, Real Madrid has turned back to an old face to avoid another year of frustration. Mourinho is back on the Bernabéu touchline, this time entrusted with a squad that looks markedly different.
The core star power remains intact: Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham stay at the heart of the project. Around them, Madrid has added a wave of new names, including World Cup winner Marc Cucurella, defender Ibrahima Konaté, full-back Denzel Dumfries, playmaker Bernardo Silva and midfielder Yan Diomande.
The rebuild has come at a cost. Long-serving defender Dani Carvajal and experienced center-back David Alaba are among the veterans who have departed. Mourinho inherits a group that is younger in some areas, more varied in others, and under immediate pressure to bring back major trophies.
The first test comes at Espanyol on August 22. Expectations will be instant and unforgiving.
Atletico Madrid: questions, exits and a star in limbo
Atletico Madrid, serial top-four finisher under Diego Simeone, opens its campaign at home to promoted Malaga on Wednesday. The club’s summer has been anything but calm.
Three Atletico players — Marcos Llorente, Marc Pubill and Álex Baena — were part of Spain’s World Cup squad. Another, Julián Álvarez, went all the way with Argentina and featured in the final. During the tournament, Álvarez asked to leave the club, and interest has come from both Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Atletico insist they do not intend to sell. The forward has returned to training, but the uncertainty around his future hangs over the start of the season. Every appearance, every omission, will be read as a signal.
Simeone has already had to absorb significant departures. Antoine Griezmann, Thiago Almada, Nahuel Molina and Clément Lenglet have all left, stripping the squad of experience and versatility in key positions.
There is fresh blood. Alejandro Grimaldo, Morten Hjulmand and Lee Kang-In have arrived, and Cristian “Cuti” Romero is set to join to reinforce the back line. Atletico, as ever under Simeone, will try to turn turbulence into siege mentality.
A new kind of ball
Away from the transfer market, La Liga is betting on technology to sharpen its product. The league says it will be the first in the world to deploy “connected ball” technology on a large scale.
Each match ball carries a radio-frequency sensor that continuously sends real-time data on its position and the exact moment of every contact. Around 12 antennas in each stadium capture the information, feeding it into La Liga’s broader technological system.
The aim is clear: more precision in key decisions, richer data for analysis, and another step into a hyper-monitored version of the sport.
New faces, old names in new places
Three clubs arrive from the second division: Racing Santander, Malaga and Deportivo La Coruña. Deportivo, once a league champion and a Champions League regular, returns to the top tier after eight seasons in the wilderness. Its reappearance adds a historic badge back into the mix.
Dropping out are Mallorca, Girona and Oviedo, all relegated at the end of last season.
So La Liga returns with a strange mix: a nation still basking in World Cup glory, a champion chasing a three-peat, Mourinho back on the Madrid bench, Atletico wrestling with its own star’s future, and a ball that now talks to the data servers.
The question is simple enough: who will make the first real statement in a season that already feels anything but ordinary?
