The Spanish Liga, the top division of football in the country, has confirmed that the games scheduled for the opening two rounds of the 2012-13 domestic season will kick off no earlier than 7pm, after holding talks with broadcast partners.
The Liga has scheduled the matches for later in the day than usual to avoid the stifling daytime heat in parts of Spain after securing approval from broadcasters.
Over the first two rounds of the campaign, from August 18-20 and August 25-27, there will be three kick-off slots of 7pm, 9pm and 11pm.
The third round of the season, from September 1-3, will revert back to the standard kick-off times, with games kicking off at midday, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, 9pm and 10pm.
The Liga said earlier this week that the season would definitely start on August 18 despite the threat of legal action by pay-television operator Prisa against the Mediapro agency. Prisa has accused Mediapro of launching an “illegal” sales process for rights covering the country’s top two football divisions for the next two seasons, 2012-13 and 2013-14.