Valencia’s match against Espanyol on Saturday has been postponed after the devastating flash floods in Spain.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Wednesday approved La Liga’s request to postpone Valencia’s league fixture for the second weekend running.
At least 200 people have been killed in the floods, which have also caused substantial damage to property and infrastructure in the Valencia region.
Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium, where the game was scheduled to take place, is situated 30 minutes outside Barcelona and four hours north of Valencia along the Spanish east coast.
The Segunda Division match between Tenerife and Levante, which had been due to take place on Sunday, has also been postponed, in addition to Sunday’s Liga F fixture between Levante and Valencia.
La Liga will communicate the dates and times for the rescheduled fixtures in due course.
All matches in the affected region, including Valencia’s league match against Real Madrid, were postponed last weekend but six La Liga fixtures went ahead as planned, with multiple coaches including Carlo Ancelotti criticising the decision.
“I think the whole football world has been quite clear on this,” Ancelotti said on Monday when asked about La Liga games going ahead. “Nobody wanted to play and that seemed to me to be the right decision.”
On Tuesday, a Spanish football crisis committee — made up of the RFEF, La Liga, Liga F and Valencia Football Federation — was set up in a bid to help facilitate the reconstruction of sporting facilities damaged in the flooding.
It’s hoped the group will “help the victims of this catastrophe, offering as much support as possible within the context of football”.
Valencia’s Copa del Rey match at Parla Escuela was postponed last week. The game was originally rescheduled for this Wednesday but the tie was called off for a second time on Monday. The fixture will now take place on November 26.
There will be a minute’s silence before all Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference League games this week as a mark of respect to the victims of the disaster.
(Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
