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2018-19 La Liga schedule released

For those of you interested in attending any La Liga matches on your upcoming trip to Spain...

Important things to note

Tickets to La Liga matches usually go on sale about 4 weeks prior to match date.

Keep in mind that these matches can be rescheduled due to unforeseen conflicts, both in terms of date and time. Official dates and times are not announced until some 10-15 days before the match. Until then, it's TBD, which is admittedly a pain if you're planning a future trip.

Also, in European football, the first team listed is the home team, which is the opposite of American football.

So, the first match of the upcoming La Liga season is Real Valladolid at Girona. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. local time, Friday, 17 August, 2018.

Posted by
16 posts

Thank you! We will be in Madrid for the October 7 match with Atletico v Real Betis. Is the best advice still to purchase from Atletico's website directly? Waiting has us anxious!

Posted by
162 posts

There are some third-party sites that sell tickets early, but I am not sure how much I would trust them.

Your best bet is to probably wait until Atletico Madrid's official site begins selling tickets to that particular match.

I have also seen this site that compares ticket prices across a horde of third-party sites and rates their trustworthiness. Some major sites like Stubhub appear on there. A few sites seem to be selling tickets early, though there appears to be a significant upcharge.

Posted by
2927 posts

1.) Even with matches that have been already announced there can be last minute changes (+/- 1 day)... and this is due to pressure to the football league association by the big TVs. TV programming is nowadays a very "fluid" business and there are often changes with little warning. While it doesn't happen "that" often, know that it does happen.

2.) Always purchase the tickets straight from the teams' websites or the TI offices. As in many other countries, when it comes to football (err, the "real" one I mean), there are a lot of intermediaries with heavy markups, scams and also illegal reselling. In order to avoid disappointments, stick to the two sources I mentioned earlier.

Enjoy!

Posted by
162 posts

Thanks for the clarification Enric.

I am quite surprised at how fluid the La Liga schedule is. I know many teams play in multiple competitions across Spain, Europe and the world, but you would think they could settle on a match date more than a few days beforehand!

Case in point: I am arriving in Barcelona on Thursday, October 18 and will be staying there until my Sunday evening flight to Granada. Barcelona is scheduled to host Sevilla at the Camp Nou that weekend, but the exact date and time is TBD. I am a huge soccer fan and getting to see the likes of Messi, Suarez and more in the flesh would be an astonishing experience, so I am highly interested in purchasing tickets.

If the match is held anytime on Sunday, I am likely out of luck (unless it's an 11 a.m. kickoff or something). However, the match may eventually be moved to either Friday evening or Saturday. In that case, I would be willing to pay quite a bit for tickets.

It's difficult to plan for something that is so unsettled, especially when Barcelona tickets are not remotely cheap. That does not even factor in the considerable logistics of getting to and from Camp Nou on a matchday.

Do you have any advice on finding match tickets and preparing to attend a match as I plan a trip to Spain from the U.S.?

Posted by
9098 posts

That does not even factor in the considerable logistics of getting to
and from Camp Nou on a matchday.

considerable?? All you have to do is take the metro to the stadium.

Do you have any advice on finding match tickets and preparing to
attend a match as I plan a trip to Spain from the U.S.?

Purchase tickets directly at the team's website. For some high-profile matches tickets may not be available to the general public. When that happens I've had good experiences with this authorized FC Barcelona reseller:

http://www.simplybarcelonatickets.co.uk/

Posted by
121 posts

Thank you all for the informative posts on this subject. We are currently debating whether to travel to Spain during my son’s spring break to take in some matches. Unfortunately during that week+ In March there is only one weekend of matches and it would have to be in Madrid. However we wouldn’t arrive until Saturday and like mentioned in other posts we wouldn’t know if the match timing would work. It is somewhat frustrating.

Posted by
2927 posts

Do you have any advice on finding match tickets and preparing to
attend a match as I plan a trip to Spain from the U.S.?

Unfortunately no. I mean, there's not really much to it other than what I said earlier: try to buy direct or at TI's offices and also stay tuned for when the tickets go on sale so you can purchase one. Note that certain teams (ie FCB) are not "companies" but a sort of "cooperatives" in which the ownership of the club is in the hands of the members, many of which purchase season tickets. The more relevant the game the fewer tickets available for non-members.

In any case, as mentioned earlier, the game will be announced a few weeks in advance and, while the final date might be moved, it's not the usual case.

As explained, when it's moved at the last minute it sometimes has to do with broadcasting interests by the media corporations. Many games of La Liga, especially those in which FCB or RM play, are broadcasted all over the world and the media giants pay ludicrous fortunes to broadcast it. This season's TV rights are managed by the Spanish company Telefónica (one of the biggest telecomms corporations in the world) which has paid 3.5 billion euros for it (yeah "b"illions!). When they see fit to move a game for business interests (ie a last-minute agreement with a broadcaster in the opposite side of the world, many time zones away) they "propose" it to the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) who organises the competition.

Contrary to what many might think, the most important match of the season is not necessarily the final of LaLiga (sort of your SuperBowl) -unless FCB or RM are contenders, of course- but the two games during the competition in which FCB and RM play each other. Last year, for example, each of those matches was broadcasted in over 180 countries around the world, with an estimated audience of over 700 million (http://www.marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2017/12/23/5a3d6b4a22601d89168b45b7.html) so the game was played at 1pm instead of the normal evening schedule (national TV prime time).

Another very valid reason to have a fluid competition, as you mentioned, is indeed the fact that many of the biggest teams play several competitions at the same time. Thus, FCB for example, aside the LaLiga Spanish championship it regularly also plays the European Championship, La Copa del Rey, La Copa Catalunya and El Gamper... all within the same season.

For comparison, the SuperBowl attracts around 100 million viewers. Just saying this so you understand the magnitude of these games and the reason why things are the way they are.

About FCB's stadium Camp Nou

As per "preparations", there's not much to it either... head towards the stadium (if it's FCB's) at least an hour in advance, use public transportation (best option: metro) or walk, make sure you understand which entrance you need to use (https://suport.fcbarcelona.com/hc/en-us/sections/202693869-Queries-about-getting-into-the-stadium) as the stadium has 99,786 seats :)

Note the stadium is family and child-friendly and the ambience is mostly peaceful, we Catalans are accused to be rather cold and introverted despite being Mediterraneans if compared to say the Spanish or the Italians, and that shows in the stadium. This is not to say there isn't shouting and passion but it might be different than in other stadiums, overall less "noisy" probably.

But when the match is relevant, the overall atmosphere is quite something. This, for example, is a match last season between FCB and Chelsea for the qualification of the European Championship and the stadium was packed. Note the flags, which depict the colours of FCB (red and blue) and the colours of the flag of FCB's homeland, Catalonia (red and yellow).


More details: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/spain/catalonia/barcelona/articles/Barcelona-at-the-Nou-Camp-a-guide/

Posted by
8 posts

We will be in Spain over US Thanksgiving (Nov 16-26th) with our two kids (10 & 13) that are dying to see some Spanish futbol, and are hoping to catch either a LaLiga 2 team (Cordoba is playing while we plan to be there) and or the Athletico Madrid v FCB game on the 25th (knowing that is a long shot to get tickets).

1- Any insigights into the 2nd tier teams and experience?

2- If we can't get tickets for the Madrid v FCB game, any suggestions on where to watch the game or at least experience it a little bit?

Thanks!
Sarah

Posted by
162 posts

I know a lot of people actually prefer lower-tier matches.

You won't get the massive atmosphere or superstar players at Cordoba that FC Barcelona or Atletico Madrid offers. However, many prefer the local authenticity of a smaller team like Cordoba.

Lower-tier European soccer match are similar to lower-division college football games here in the US. Less commercialism, more pageantry.

Cordoba were relegated from first-tier La Liga just last season, so they should be pretty good in the second-tier. The stadium will be smaller, so you'll be much closer to the action.

Posted by
2927 posts

... @nathanboley8, yes but for a lower-tier match you don't need to invest your scarce time in Barcelona (or elsewhere), you can watch similar games -as you point it- back at home.

The reason why millions visit and attend these big games is precisely because (in many instances) that it's something you don't have at home.

At that level, games go beyond football, it's a whole experience which starts with the atmosphere of the supporters downtown in the city, the "going to the game", the pre-game around the stadium, the chants in the stands and the celebrations in Les Rambles when FCB wins an important title :))

Posted by
16 posts

Since this thread is for football fans, Atletico's tickets are finally for sale on the official website v. Betis on October 7. The problem is the official site is not accepting our credit card, nor is iUPAY. We don't want to turn to a third party site - but the issue isn't with our bank, so we can only assume it's Atletico. I'm open to suggestions but we've tried it all - various browsers, visa, mastercard etc.. We'd like to have decent seats so waiting until match day just doesn't fit the fill. Any ideas?