La Liga announces date for players to resume training

SPANISH prime minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that athletes, including footballers, will be able to train individually again on May 4.

The Iberian country has been one of the world's worst-affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with over 232,000 cases and 23,822 confirmed fatalities.

Sanchez, 48, sent the country into full-scale lockdown for six weeks from March 14, with children unable to play outside as the daily death toll reached as high as 950 earlier this month.

With that figure down to 301 yesterday some services have returned to work, with the Spanish PM launching his four-part plan to get the country up and running again - including its football league.

In what has been dubbed "Phase 0", players will be able to use their club's training facilities in order to recommence individual work.

Sanchez confirmed: "Professional athletes will be able to train individually starting from May 4.

"Therefore, the opening of individual training sessions for professional and federation athletes and the basic training for [teams of] professional leagues is authorised within Phase 0.

"In the sports industry, the opening of high-performance centres with reinforced hygiene and protection measures and, if possible, shifts, is being contemplated, while medium level training sessions in professional leagues will also be allowed within Phase 1."

And in Phase 2, "cultural events" of under 50 people will be able to take place in closed venues at a third or under of their capacity.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas is fully behind a restart and had earlier thrown his weight behind a controlled return to action.