El Classico: Barcelona To Not Host Real Madrid On Oct. 26, La Liga To Give New Update Soon

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced on Friday that they have postponed the upcoming El Classico between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid at Nou Camp due to civil unrest in the city.

The match was scheduled Oct. 26 but after nine Catalan separatist leaders were jailed on Monday, leading to protests across the region, which continued into a fourth day on Thursday.

More protests are expected on the day of El Classico and hence the Spanish federation has decided to postpone it because of "exceptional circumstances beyond our control."

Both the clubs - Barcelona and Madrid - disagreed with the decision to move the match to Santiago Bernabéu. However, the Spanish league's authorities have asked the clubs to agree to a new date by Monday.

Barca boss Ernesto Valverde has said the Spanish champions were against the match in Madrid because they are set to visit Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Oct. 23, three days before El Clasico was scheduled.

El Classico is one of the biggest fixtures of European soccer, drawing in millions of viewers from across the globe and La Liga cannot afford to let this match get hampered in any way for economic reasons. One of the suggested dates is Dec. 7, which is a Saturday but that would also include moving both sides' Copa del Rey fixtures that are currently scheduled for the day.

La Liga is against the idea of organizing the El Clasico fixture midweek as it would highly affect the viewing figures and have a knock-on effect on television rights holders.

According to CNN, more than 20 roads in and around Catalonia city were closed on Friday due to the demonstrations. The last three days of protests - Tuesday to Friday - have already caused damage of worth $1,753,000 to the Spanish government.

So far in the 2019-20 La Liga season, Real Madrid are currently on the top with 18 points, two ahead of second-place Barca.