El Clasico: Barcelona & Real Madrid's showpiece to be played on Dec 18

The Competition Commission of the Spanish Football Federation has finalized the dates for El Clasico. The Commission has announced that the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid will be played on December 18 at the Nou Camp in Barcelona.

The Federation announced that the decision was arrived at after a consensus between the Federation and both clubs involved. The decision comes after a lot of back-and-forth between the clubs and the Federation over the finalizing of the dates. The two clubs were initially supposed to have the first showdown of the season on October 26, however, a rescheduling plan was put forth because of the ensuing political crisis in the region.

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Catalonia protests

On October 14, the Spanish Supreme Court passed a ruling to jail nine Catalan political leaders for a period of between nine and thirteen years for their role in an illegal referendum and failed bid for independence. After the order was passed, citizens filled the streets of Barcelona protesting the ruling. La Liga decided to take a cautious approach to the El Clasico match and advised reversing the match schedule and playing the game at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, home of Real Madrid. The recommendation, however, was rejected by both the clubs and the Federation who said that it would be contrary to various competition rules. 

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The Federation, however, said that a rescheduling of the match will be necessary because of “exceptional circumstances beyond our control and demonstrated beyond doubt”. The Federation then asked both the clubs to agree upon a new date to play the game, and swiftly, a decision was arrived between the two clubs to play the match on December 18. However, La Liga did not accept the proposal and said that the game interfered with the scheduling of various Spanish cup games. The Liga had previously proposed December 7, which was rejected. 

On Wednesday, October 23, the Federation finally decided that the game will go ahead as per the date proposed by the two clubs a week ago. A report published by the Committee stated that "the decision of the Competition Committee has come after analyzing in recent days the proposals of both clubs, which it invited to agree on a date and who agreed to select December 18 for the celebration of the postponed match. At its meeting today, the Committee has also analyzed the latest pleas of the clubs, who stood by their initial proposal to play the game on December 18.”

It also stated that the Committee had studied a report and proposal by the La Liga but did not find it binding. The statement read, "It has also analyzed a report of the RFEF Competition Area as well as the numerous reports submitted by the National Professional Football League [LaLiga], which are not binding."

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