RFEF reject Barcelona and Osasuna appeal over scheduling

Barcelona and Osasuna will be played within 48 hours of some of their players being on international duty, after the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) rejected an appeal from both sides to reschedule the match.

The game at Montjuic was postponed two weeks ago when Barcelona team doctor Carles Minarro Garcia sadly passed away just hours before the game. Last week the RFEF, reportedly at the request of La Liga, rearranged the game for Thursday the 27th of March, just two days after the international fixtures finish.

The RFEF has announced that it rejects Osasuna’s appeal and schedules #BarçaOsasuna for Thursday, March 27.

In its resolution, the RFEF states that #AthleticOsasuna will be played on Sunday, March 30. https://t.co/7rWy4qVcTk

— C. A. OSASUNA (@osasuna_en) March 20, 2025

It means that Barcelona will likely be without Uruguayan Ronald Araujo, and Brazilian Raphinha, who are in action against Bolivia and Argentina respectively on Tuesday night. In the latter case, Raphinha’s game will finish in the early hours of the morning. Gerard Martin, Fermin Lopez and Pablo Torre are also in action for Spain’s under-21 side, meanwhile Osasuna’s starting central defender, Enzo Boyomo is playing for Cameroon against Libya the same night.

Both sides decided to appeal the decision, on the grounds that it would have a significant impact on their sides to play their game then. Osasuna were also due to face Athletic Club on Friday night, but that game will also be moved to Sunday night as a result, following the announcement from the RFEF that the appeal has been rejected.

Barça have officially secured an agreement to play at Montjuïc until May 20th, ensuring they finish the season at the Estadi Olímpic. The club had requested an extension in January after learning that a planned Rolling Stones concert wouldn’t take place. @sergisoleMD

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 18, 2025

Due to Barcelona’s participation in the Copa del Rey and Champions League, the only guaranteed available date was between the penultimate and ultimate La Liga matchdays, when the league were keen to do unified kick-off times, and said that it could impact on the integrity of the competition as a result. Other than that, there seemed to be no impediment to the game taking place then, as La Liga only began unifying kick-off times for the penultimate matchday in recent years.