Just under a month after the World Cup final, one of Europe’s top domestic leagues gets its schedule underway.
The new La Liga season kicks off this Saturday (15), with a still incomplete opening round, but already featuring some new developments.
The championship’s biggest clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, were given a longer break due to their players’ involvement in the closing stages of the World Cup.
Because of that, their debuts will only take place in the final days of August.
Before then, however, there will already be plenty of good stories to follow.
OneFootball has gathered the main information about the new La Liga season here. Check it out below:
Split opening round
La Liga’s first match in 2026/27 will be between Alavés and Getafe.
But one of the biggest stories of the opening round is set to unfold on Sunday (16).
Historic Racing will take the field to host Villarreal and play its first match in the top flight of Spanish football after 14 years away.
Meanwhile, Barcelona and Real Madrid will still be putting the finishing touches on their preparations for the new season.
Their first La Liga matches will come in Matchday 2, on August 22 and 23.
Key transfers
The transfer window remains open, and clubs can still register new signings until the end of this month.
At the moment, the main deal involving a Spanish club is midfielder Rodri, who could leave Manchester City to join Barcelona.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, addressed their main transfer business early.
In addition to renewing Vini Jr.’s contract, the club signed several reinforcements to help José Mourinho on his return to the Santiago Bernabéu.
Check out the main La Liga transfers so far below:
Anthony Gordon: Newcastle ➡️ Barcelona for 70 million euros
Karim Adeyemi: Borussia Dortmund ➡️ Barcelona for 22 million euros
Yan Diomandé: Leipzig ➡️ Real Madrid for 125 million euros
Marc Cucurella: Chelsea ➡️ Real Madrid for 55 million euros
Carlos Espí: Levante ➡️ Real Madrid for 25 million euros
Denzel Dumfries: Inter Milan ➡️ Real Madrid for 20 million euros
Ibrahima Konaté: (Free agent after leaving Liverpool) ➡️ Real Madrid
Bernardo Silva: (Free agent after leaving Manchester City) ➡️ Real Madrid
Morten Hjulmand: Sporting ➡️ Atlético Madrid for 40 million euros
Kang-in Lee: PSG ➡️ Atlético Madrid for 40 million euros
Alejandro Grimaldo: Bayer Leverkusen ➡️ Atlético Madrid for 22 million euros
Facundo Bernal: Fluminense ➡️ Betis for 10.5 million euros
Even more technology
This season, La Liga will have a “connected ball” at its disposal to help with refereeing decisions.
It will be equipped with a sensor to detect its position and the exact moment of each touch.
The system integrates with VAR and semi-automated offside technology.
The new feature in the ball will help referees with decisions in five types of plays:
- The exact moment the ball is touched in tight offside situations
- Detection of handballs inside the penalty area
- Determining the last touch in contested-ball situations
- Identifying which player touched the ball last
- Confirming whether there were two touches of the ball in dead-ball situations, including penalties
Big-name returns
The three teams promoted from the second division last season are far from unfamiliar to football fans.
Alongside Racing, La Liga will also welcome back Deportivo A Coruña and Málaga.
They replace Mallorca, Girona and Oviedo, who were relegated last season.
For Deportivo A Coruña, Spanish champions in 1999/2000, this will be the La Liga debut of the club’s new name. Until last season, it was called Deportivo La Coruña.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.