Fans await kick-off of LaLiga santander season

• Moses Simon Leads Levante’s Attack
With three new teams, the finest players in the world, and the best cutting-edge technology on offer, football lovers around the world are eagerly waiting for the kick off of the LaLiga season. And in less than a fortnight, the most thrilling football competition in the world will return.

There are plenty of changes afoot for the 2018/19 LaLiga Santander season, with a flurry of activity in the transfer market, three clubs fresh from promotion from LaLiga 1|2|3, and stadiums better equipped than ever to give fans the most thrilling experience possible.

There have also been two significant advances on the technology front, with the most up-to-date broadcasting technology now implemented to bring the spectacle to screens around the world, as well as the introduction of VAR. The first of 38 LaLiga matchdays kicks off on August 17.

The 2018/19 LaLiga Santander season will have three new teams on board, in the shape of SD Huesca, Rayo Vallecano and R. Valladolid CF. It will be Huesca’s maiden season in the Spanish top flight, and the club’s participation in LaLiga Santander will put the city of just 50,000 inhabitants on the map.

While Huesca are new to the elite of Spanish football, Rayo know the division well. They are now set for their seventh stint in the top tier. Top-class football will be returning to the Madrid neighbourhood of Vallecas, which gave fantastic backing to their team last season.

There is R. Valladolid, who are back in the big time after an absence of four years, and will be the only LaLiga Santander club flying the flag for the autonomous community of Castillay Leon. Part of the renowned wine region of Ribera del Duero, Valladolid has common ground with D. Alaves, the Basque clubs and Huesca in being an important centre for viticulture.

Aside from new clubs, there are plenty of fresh faces, who the fans will be keen to watch. Star names from across the globe have joined LaLiga Santander clubs, the most eye-catching transfers being Chile’s Arturo Vidal to FC Barcelona, France’s Thomas Lemar to Atletico Madrid and Peru’s Luis Advincula to Rayo. Three other notable names heading to pastures new within Spain are Mexico’s Miguel Layun, who has joined Villarreal CF, Nigeria’s Moses Simon, who has joined Levante, and Japan’s Takashi Inui, who has signed for Real Betis. The transfer window doesn’t close until August 31, so LaLiga Santander clubs still have plenty of time to add quality to their ranks.