A person with an umbrella walks next to damaged items on a mud-covered street, following heavy rains that caused floods, in Paiporta, near Valencia, Spain, November 3, 2024. REUTERS/Eva Manez
(Reuters) - Five of seven Copa del Rey matches have been postponed again by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) on Monday after Spain's worst flash floods in modern history killed at least 217 people in the Valencia region, with dozens still unaccounted for.
Several clubs from Valencia requested a second postponement of their matches from the RFEF, which announced new schedules on Monday after accepting these requests.
Spain sent around 7,500 soldiers to its flood-hit east where rescuers scoured underground carparks for bodies and protests grew over the government's handling of a disaster.
Ejea are set to host Hercules de Alicante on Nov. 14. Levante will play Pontevedra in Pasaron on Nov. 19, as proposed in their statement. Manises and Getafe will play on Nov. 26, which is also the date for Parla Escuela v Valencia.
The only postponed match without a date set involves Real Sociedad, with their clash against Valencian side Jove Espanyol yet to be determined.
Real Madrid's visit to Valencia on Saturday was one of the several LaLiga games postponed. Real manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Monday it was nonsense that in other places of the country the competitions continued as expected and argued that there was no enthusiasm in Spain to play football at the moment.
Motor sports also faced the brunt of the catastrophic floods, as Formula E moved its pre-season test from the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia to Circuit del Jarama in Madrid.
The Valencia circuit was also set to host the final MotoGP race in two weeks. MotoGP are in talks with local authorities to stage their season-ending race in Barcelona, promoter Dorna's chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta said on Sunday after the Nov. 15-17 race was cancelled in Valencia.
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
