Spanish football strike: how it affects Barcelona and Real Madrid

Spanish football is to be suspended indefinitely from 16 May, two weeks before the scheduled end of the season, because of a dispute over TV rights.

How serious is the situation and what does it mean for La Liga and the Champions League?

What is the dispute about?

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The suspension has been called by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), the Spanish equivalent of the Football Association, which is not happy about a new law governing television rights that has the support of the Spanish government and the support of the National Professional Football League (LFP), which runs Spain's top two divisions.

The law is designed to loosen the stranglehold of Barcelona and Real Madrid, who dominate the Spanish football landscape and had previously negotiated their own TV deals and claimed almost half of TV money for themselves.

Under the new system rights will be sold collectively as they are in the Premier League, and more money will be made available to smaller clubs.

However, Andy West of the BBC explains that RFEF is "unhappy with some terms of the new deal" and feels its "authority is being undermined" after it was excluded from negotiations. "The RFEF runs the sport in Spain, and has shown its disapproval by taking the ultimate step of picking up the ball and refusing to play, suspending all competitions at all age levels."

How serious is it?

Very. This is about more than TV rights. "Essentially, the suspension is the result of a power struggle over who runs Spanish football," says West.

The Daily Telegraph picks up the story. "The federation, which has been bitterly complaining in recent months of what it sees as government interference, believes the law will rob it of some powers and is also unhappy at what it says are government plans to use money from soccer to fund other sports."

What do the players think?

To complicate matters further the players' association (AFE) is also against the new TV deal and will back the strike. It says the split of money between the top two divisions is not fair and will only widen the gap between the top players and those who represent smaller teams, and earn far less than their counterparts in the English Championship, for example.

Even Lionel Messi has backed the strike. "The AFE have met with us. The players are with them in what they say," he said.

Andy West explains: "It is essentially the government and the league against the players and the federation, making it much more difficult to find a quick solution."

The spectre of Fifa

Any footballing crisis these days seems to have a Fifa connection, and this one is no different. Fifa bans governmental interference in football and RFEF claims the new law over TV rights is just that.

"The prospect of Fifa's involvement is made more likely by the fact that the RFEF's president, Angel Maria Villar, also happens to be a Fifa vice-president and a long-time ally of Sepp Blatter," explains West, who adds that the "worst-case scneario" could see Spain banned from international competition.

What does it mean for Spanish football?

The strike will affect 600,000 players and 30,000 matches in 17 regional federations. Most significantly it could derail the end of the Spanish league season, which has three rounds to go, and could even mean the cancellation off the RFEF's own showpiece, the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao due to take place on 30 May.

In La Liga Barcelona lead Real Madrid by two points. Barca are at home to Real Sociedad on Saturday and Real Madrid face Valencia. At risk are games including Barcelona's clash with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid's local derby against Getafe on the final day of the season.

"Not only will fans be both furious and petrified there might not be a timely finish to the campaign, but the two clubs involved in the title race... could potentially lose a handful of key players to the Copa America as well," says Bleacher Report. The South American competition starts in June and international players like Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar will be taking part.

What about the Champions League?

With the prospect of an El Clasico Champions League final looming, it is not believed that Barcelona or Real Madrid would be prevented from taking part in European football's grandest occasion on 6 June.

What next?

The LFP has announced it is taking action against RFEF to stop the strike happening, and has called an extraordinary general meeting for Monday.

Something is bound to give says West. "Ending the season without champions is pretty much unthinkable and... there is too much money at stake, for starters, for that not to happen.

"And as the most directly affected clubs are Real Madrid and Barcelona, who carry enormous emotional, cultural and political sway throughout Spain, it's unlikely they would allow the situation to remain unresolved."

The timing of the RFEF's announcement is also telling, says Bleacher Report. "By announcing the planned suspension over a week before it will take effect, the parties involved have given themselves plenty of time to come to an agreement."