Tebas hopes to restart La Liga as early as June 11th with Seville derby

The president of the Spanish soccer league said Sunday the competition could restart as early as June 11 with the Seville derby between Sevilla and Real Betis.

Javier Tebas made the announcement a day after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the league would be allowed to resume from June 8 as long as the country continued to keep the coronavirus outbreak in check.

Tebas said the popular Seville derby in the top tier would be a good way to mark the return to competition and “honor those who have lost their lives” during the pandemic in Spain with more than 28,000 deaths.

Teams will be allowed to train with groups of 14 players beginning on Monday, up from 10 players the past week.

Full squad sessions are scheduled for upcoming weeks.

Tebas said it remains impossible to guarantee the June 11 start date because the decision ultimately depends on how the pandemic progresses.

He said all teams must go through all the phases already established in the league’s return-to-training protocol, but there could be different confinement measures in place for different regions of the country.

The Sevilla-Betis game is expected to start at 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT).

Spain's top tier has 11 rounds left. Barcelona is top with a two-point lead over Real Madrid.