Madrid's request to postpone LaLiga rejected by RFEF

Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) rejected Real Madrid's request to postpone the August 19 fixture, and the club will start their LaLiga campaign with a home game against Osasuna as scheduled, according to international media reports on Thursday.

The reason Madrid mentioned was to get a longer rest period as they played their Club World Cup and lost the last match in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain.

Madrid had claimed that the date included a violation, as they got the lowest time for rest and preparation.

"A breach of the minimum period of rest and preparation," the club stated.

According to the media reports, the RFEF judge explained that they just want to preserve the integrity of the competition, and Madrid's request did not justify an alteration.

The sole judge explained that the requesting club says that they have an agreement, but there is no record.

"Finally, it should be added that although the requesting club claims to have the agreement of the opposing party, CA Osasuna, there is no record of this entity having responded to the request made by this judge," the sole judge said.

It is pertinent to mention that Madrid started their rest period on July 11, and they have enjoyed uninterrupted 21 days of rest as discussed in the collective agreement.

The rules by the Spanish football federation do not mention the minimum 21 additional days for physical and tactical preparation, as Madrid and the players' union AFE had suggested.

Madrid has 48 hours to appeal the decision.