体坛英语新闻：Calderon set as venue for Spanish Cup final

MADRID, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Football Federation on Tuesday finally decided that the final of the Copa del Rey knockout competition will be played in the Vicente Calderon Stadium on May 25.

The decision finally puts an end to a debate that has been raging for several weeks, following Real Madrid's refusal to allow the game, which will be played between Athletic Club Bilbao and FC Barcelona to be played in their Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Both Athletic and Barca had asked for the Bernabeu to be used to host the game given that it is the neutral ground with the largest capacity (80,354), which would allow the greatest number of fans to attend the game.

Real Madrid alleged that work to renovate seating and some of the toilets in the Bernabeu, made it impossible play the final there, although the general opinion is that the club doesn't want to run the risk of seeing bitter rivals FC Barcelona celebrate winning a title there.

Inaki Azkuna, the Mayor of Bilbao said Monday that it was disgraceful that the Bernabeu would not host the final.

Other options had been mooted, such as Valencia's Mestalla Stadium, while Athletic preferred the Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville. The Calderon was Barcelona's preferred option, but Atletio Madrid's home ground only holds 54,000 fans, considerably less than the Bernabeu.

The proposed date for the final was also a problem, with one of the possibilities, May 20, just one day after the final of the Champions League, a competition Barcelona still have options of winning. Bearing that in mind, Barca had asked for the final to be played on May 25, even though this date is far from perfect given that the Spanish national team will begin preparing their defense of the European Championship crown on May 23.

Barcelona supplied seven players to the last Spanish national squad named by coach Vicente del Bosque and could have as many as nine players called up for he European Champions, while Athletic possibly see four players named in the squad. The Cup Final date means Del Bosque will have to start would with possibly half of his squad not arriving until May 26.