Next season, as reported by ABC, the federative requirements will be toughened to be able to compete in the RFEF First Division, in which clubs will be required to have natural grass in their stadiums, and the Unionistas de Salamanca are in danger of not being able to meet that requirement, which could lead to the disappearance of a club that enjoys a healthy economy and is not carrying debts. The directors of the charro team have been met with the refusal of the City Council to change the artificial grass that covers the Reina Sofía Municipal stadium despite the fact that the club has offered to cover the expenses, some 300,000 euros, and that refusal may end up causing the demise of Unionists.
Given the problem that has arisen, the Unionistas board, as ABC has learned, intends to present its resignation in an extraordinary assembly to be held in the coming days and it seems difficult for anyone to want to take over a club that would be doomed to relegation because Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF, recently warned that there will be no moratoriums for compliance with the requirements set in the competition rules for the 2022-23 season.
In a meeting, Unionists have proposed to the City Council to pay for the installation of natural grass in the Reina Sofía, moving the current synthetic grass that covers the installation to a field that would be built in the annex to the stadium, on land belonging to the Provincial Council. An offer that has met with municipal opposition.
In that plan of Unionistas it was also collected that the youth teams of RS Monterrey, a club with which it shares the use of the Reina Sofía facilities, would move to the Aldehuela field, where other Salamanca teams play, during the period that they last the works. An option also rejected by the City Council.
The City Council argues that the works would not be completed before the start of the next season and has proposed to Unionistas to return to their old home in Las Pistas del Helmántico. A municipally owned facility that already meets the natural grass requirement that the 2022-23 campaign will demand of all RFEF First Division clubs. However, Unionists do not see this option as feasible because the infrastructure does not meet other federal requirements, such as the minimum lighting of the turrets. The future of this club, which has no debts and is an example of management, is up in the air.
Last April, in a meeting held with the clubs in the category, the president of the Spanish Football Federation confirmed that next season new requirements will be required of the teams in order to participate in the bronze category, a competition that RFEF intends to make it more and more attractive. To do this, and as already stated in the competition rules for the 2021-22 campaign, starting next year it will be mandatory to have a natural grass playing field and that the stadiums in the category have a minimum capacity for 4,000 spectators. . Another of the new requirements that the RFEF will oblige will be that the stadiums have sufficient lighting for the dispute of an official match at night and with sufficient light (minimum 600 luxes) for when the match must be broadcast on television at night. .
«We will be inflexible with the technical requirements of light and grass. If there are clubs that fail to comply after a one-year moratorium, they will not be able to compete,” President Rubiales warned Monday during the meeting.
Taking into account the new requirements, five of the 39 teams in the category (Extremadura was expelled in the middle of the League after two forfeits in their matches) could not play next season in the First RFEF because they currently play their matches on artificial turf . In Group 1, the affected teams are Unionistas, San Sebastián de los Reyes and Dux Internacional de Madrid, while in Group 2 the affected clubs would be Andorra and Cornellá. Others could join these sets if they do not meet the other requirements that the RFEF will demand from the 2022-23 campaign.
However, clubs such as San Sebastián de los Reyes have already reached an agreement with the City Council of this Madrid town to change the artificial grass of their stadium, Matapiñonera, for the natural grass that the Federation will require from the 2022-23 academic year. in the First RFEF.
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