The key dates in the 2021/22 calendar

The beginning of a new season is approaching. In less than two months, Ronald Koeman’s Barça will compete again and will do so with the start of the LaLiga, which is officially set to begin on the weekend of 14 and 15 August. Let's take the opportunity to review the entire football calendar for next year, with all the dates we have confirmed so far:

Start of the season

The 2021/22 season will begin, as usual since the Spanish Super Cup is no longer played in the summer, with the league championship. The competition will begin on the weekend of August 14 and 15, as chosen by the RFEF and LaLiga, with the mediation of the CSD. The calendar will show who Barça's first opponents are, as well as when the Clásicos will be played, the derbies against Espanyol and matches against Atlético Madrid and Sevilla, amongst others.

The Catalans usually start the league campaign with a victory, and apart from the 2019 defeat against Athletic Club, the last loss on the first day of the league season was 13 years ago, in 2008, against Numancia. The rest were all wins (11 from 13).

As for last year, Ronald Koeman's men started the season with a great victory at the Camp Nou against Villarreal (4-0).

End of the season

As for the last day, the league has not yet reported  on the exact final day of the championship, but as usual, all indications are that it will sometime in May. We hope to be able to be celebrating a new league title which would be the 27th in our history!

The Champions League

In the absence of the preliminary rounds in the summer to finalise all the teams that will play in the Champions League, UEFA have already announced the dates for the 2021/22 Champions League. Please note that the draw for the group stage will take place on August 26:

Group stage:

14 and 15 September 2021: First match
28 and 29 September 2021: Second match
19 and 20 October 2021: Third match
2 and 3 November 2021: Fourth match
23 and 24 November 2021: Fifth match
7 and 8 December 2021: Sixth match

Knockout stage:

15/16/22/23 February and 8/9/15/16 March 2022: Round of 16
5/6 and 12/13 April 2022: Quarter-finals
26/27 April and 3/4 May 2022: Semifinals
28 May 2022: Final (Saint Petersburg Stadium)

Christmas break, but not New Year's Eve

Another important point that has been announced is that there will be a league matchday on December 22nd and 23rd, but no matches will be played on December 24th, 25th and 26th. Therefore, with the Christmas break, it means there will be up to three games played on Dec. 31, and Barça could end up playing on this New Year’s Eve as a result.

The Copa del Rey final

It has also been agreed that the Copa del Rey final will be played on a weekend in which there will be no league games, so April 23, 2022 is the date that's been assigned. Games that were due to be played that weekend will be brought forward to the previous Wednesday, April 20 (all matches except those of the two cup finalists). We look forward to being there in a new final!

The Super Cup, with a Clásico

As for the Spanish Super Cup, the RFEF has not yet made the exact dates official, but following the trend of recent years, all indications are that it will be played in January. Atlético Madrid (league champions), Real Madrid (league runners-up), FC Barcelona (Cup champions) and Athletic Club (Cup runners-up) are involved. The pairings are champions of one competition against runners-up in the other, so there will be a Clásico in the semifinals, as well as Atlético Madrid v Athletic Club.

International breaks

Finally, there will be international breaks from September 1 to 8, October 8 to 12 and November 11 to 16, in order for countries to play in the qualifying matches for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The Final Four of the Nations League will be played from 6 to 10 October, with the participation of Spain, Italy, Belgium and France, so there will probably be Barça representation. Finally, there will also be South American qualifiers for the World Cup from January 27 to February 1, 2022 and from March 24 to 29, 2022.