
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Spanish Super Cup - Barcelona v Sevilla - Grand Stade de Tanger, Tangier, Morocco - August 12, 2018 Barcelona's Lionel Messi lifts the trophy as they celebrate winning the Spanish Super Cup REUTERS
Clubs in the top two divisions of Spanish football have overwhelmingly voted against plans by the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) to shake up the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, La Liga's organizing body said on Wednesday.
RFEF president Luis Rubiales earlier this month revealed plans to turn the Super Cup -- the annual curtain raiser played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey -- into a tournament involving four teams to be played outside of Spain each January.
The federation has also proposed doing away with the two-legged format of the Copa del Rey, aside from at the semi-final stage.
"La Liga's general assembly has agreed at today's meeting to not support the changes to the Copa del Rey and Super Cup which have been proposed by the RFEF," said a statement from La Liga, the organizing body for the 42 clubs in the top two divisions.
"This is due to the fact that these types of changes should be agreed to by La Liga as they affect clubs belonging to the league and they imply an important change to the professional competition calendar."
The statement added that 39 clubs agreed to oppose the changes, with two clubs supporting the changes and one club abstaining.
The changes to the Super Cup and the Copa del Rey must be approved by the RFEF's general assembly next Monday.
An RFEF source told Reuters that opposition from clubs in La Liga and the Segunda Division to the changes would not determine whether or not they go ahead.
According to reports in the Spanish media, Saudi Arabia has been proposed as the host of the revamped Super Cup, with China also in the running.
Under the new Copa del Rey format, La Liga teams would also be pitted against sides from the bottom divisions of Spanish football from the first round, unlike under the current format where top flight sides enter in the round of 32.
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