La Liga Returns: Spain's World Cup High Fuels New Season
MADRID (AP) — Barely weeks after Spain lifted the World Cup, La Liga is already back. The first of Europe’s major domestic leagues to restart does so this weekend, but the curtain-raiser arrives with a strangely muted feel.
One match is off the board, two giants are delayed, and a fungus has literally eaten into the schedule.
Disrupted opening weekend
Celta Vigo’s planned home opener against Osasuna on Sunday has been pushed back to Aug. 27 after a fungus outbreak damaged the Balaídos pitch, forcing groundskeepers into emergency repair mode and the league into a reshuffle.
Defending champion Barcelona and José Mourinho’s revamped Real Madrid also sit out the first wave of fixtures. Both clubs have been granted an extra week after sending large contingents to the World Cup. Barcelona, chasing a third straight league title, will not kick a ball in La Liga until an Aug. 23 trip to Elche. Real Madrid, retooled under Mourinho after a second consecutive season without a major trophy, begin away to Espanyol on Aug. 22.
The season’s first ball will instead roll in Vitoria. Alaves hosts Getafe on Saturday to officially open the campaign, followed later that day by Sevilla at home to Rayo Vallecano.
Sunday brings one of the weekend’s standout storylines: Racing Santander back in the top flight after 14 long years away. The promoted side hosts last season’s third-place finisher, Villarreal, in a test that should immediately reveal Racing’s level. Espanyol, meanwhile, welcomes Levante.
Atletico Madrid, a serial top-four presence, enters from another angle altogether. Diego Simeone’s side hosts promoted Malaga on Wednesday, with the club still wrestling with the future of forward Julián Álvarez, who has made clear he wants to leave.
Barcelona’s hunt for a three-peat
Barcelona’s title defense leans heavily on the core that just conquered the world with Spain. Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Pedri and Pau Cubarsí all return from the World Cup as champions, bringing form, confidence and the weight of expectation into Hansi Flick’s first full league campaign in charge.
One hero from that run is unlikely to be around much longer. Ferran Torres, who scored Spain’s extra-time winner against Argentina in the World Cup final, is reportedly in talks over a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Losing a match-winner of that profile would sting, but Barcelona has already moved to refresh the attack.
The club has landed England forward Anthony Gordon, whose direct running and sharp edge in the final third are expected to help offset the departure of veteran striker Robert Lewandowski. Flick’s task is clear: blend the World Cup-winning core with new blood and keep the domestic dominance rolling.
Mourinho’s second act at Real Madrid
Across the capital, Real Madrid has turned back to a familiar face to avoid a third straight season without a major title. Mourinho is back on the Bernabéu touchline, and the squad he inherits looks very different from the one that stumbled last year.
The headline stars remain. Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham still form the spine of Madrid’s attack and midfield. Around them, the club has added a wave of high-profile reinforcements: World Cup winner Marc Cucurella, defender Ibrahima Konaté, wing-back Denzel Dumfries, playmaker Bernardo Silva and midfielder Yan Diomande all arrive to deepen and modernize the squad.
Some long-serving figures have gone the other way. Dani Carvajal and David Alaba are among the veterans who have left, underscoring the scale of the rebuild and the sense that this is very much Mourinho’s Madrid from day one.
Atletico’s rebuild and the Álvarez question
Atletico Madrid enters the new season with its own mix of optimism and unease. The club had three players — Marcos Llorente, Marc Pubill and Álex Baena — in Spain’s World Cup squad, a reminder that Simeone’s group still carries real quality.
Julián Álvarez added even more star power in Qatar, reaching the final with Argentina. During the tournament, the forward asked to be transferred, and interest has since emerged from both Real Madrid and Barcelona. Atletico has publicly insisted it does not intend to sell. Álvarez has returned to training, but the uncertainty lingers over the dressing room and the stands.
Simeone is already dealing with notable departures. Antoine Griezmann, Thiago Almada, Nahuel Molina and Clément Lenglet have all moved on, stripping away experience and familiarity. In response, Atletico has brought in Alejandro Grimaldo, Morten Hjulmand and Lee Kang-In, with Cristian “Cuti” Romero also set to arrive to bolster the back line.
The question is whether this reshaped squad can keep Atletico anchored in the top four while the Álvarez saga rumbles in the background.
A “connected ball” and a connected league
La Liga is not just selling new faces this season; it is selling new tech. The league will become the first in the world to deploy “connected ball” technology on a large scale.
Each match ball carries a radio-frequency sensor that constantly tracks its exact position and the precise moment of every contact. Around 12 antennas installed in each stadium capture the data and feed it into La Liga’s broader technological system, promising sharper decisions, richer analysis and a new layer of insight for officials and analysts.
Newcomers and casualties
Racing Santander is not the only fresh name back on the schedule. Malaga and Deportivo La Coruña also arrive from the second division, with Deportivo returning to the top tier after eight seasons in the wilderness for a club that once lifted the league title.
Dropping out to make room 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 history, a superclub rebuilt under a returning icon, and a league leaning into new technology. The only certainty, as the first whistle approaches, is that the race for Spain’s crown starts earlier than anywhere else in Europe — and it already feels like nothing will be straightforward.
