Spanish football suspended: Spain's football federation suspends La Liga over TV rights spat with government

A dispute over TV right has led to the suspension of all Spanish domestic football

Atletico Madrid's forward Fernando Torres (R) vies with Athletic Bilbao's midfielder Mikel Rico during the Spanish league football match Club Atletico de Madrid vs Athletic Club Bilbao at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on May 2, 2015. (JAVIER SORIANO/AFP/Getty Images)

The Spanish football federation is to suspend all planned games at the end of the season, over a dispute with the government over television rights.

The law approved by the cabinet, with the backing of the professional soccer league (LFP), last week aims to make the clubs in Spain’s top two divisions share out profits made from TV more equitably.

The law would end the current system - which favours big teams - under which rights are sold by individual clubs and would potentially create a sharp price increase.

The CSD said the new law was an “historic achievement” and guaranteed “that Spanish soccer can reach levels of exploitation, profitability and sustainability that were unthinkable up to now”.

But the Spanish football federation (the RFEF), its influential president and the players' union (AFE) have hit back at the new laws, and have backed stopping competition rights across Spanish soccer.

Unless an agreement can be reached to avert the action, both the final two matchdays in La Liga as well as the King's Cup final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao will be affected.

In a statement, the RFEF accused the government of a "lack of respect" and complained it had not been consulted properly on the TV law.

It went on to say that the suspension will affect 17 regional federations, including over 600,000 players and 30,000 matches.

"At the same time, and yet again, we reiterate the offer of dialogue to the Spanish government," the federation added.

Additional reporting by Reuters