The Spanish Football Federation announced today that it has set a new date for December 18 for the clasico match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, which was scheduled for this month, and was postponed due to the violence in Catalonia. The Spanish federation said in a statement that the decision was taken "after analyzing the proposals of the two clubs in recent days." The match between the two poles was scheduled to take place at Camp Nou on January 26, but pro-secessionist Catalan groups called for a demonstration in Barcelona on the same day of the upcoming match to protest against the imprisonment of nine separatist leaders between nine and 13 years. Their role in the region's attempt to secede from Spain in 2017.
The league last week asked the local federation to move the match to the capital "because of the exceptional circumstances beyond our control," before announcing the postponement and asked the clubs "to agree on a new date for the game," with a deadline until Monday.
But the traditional rivals quickly reached an agreement on December 18, the date the Catalan club had proposed to the Competitions Committee before it was adopted by the federation today. The approved date is Wednesday and will see the King's Cup, but Barcelona and Real Madrid are exempt from the first round of the competition.