Barcelona would have to leave La Liga if...

Tebas explained that the country's sports law entitles only one non-Spanish territory - Andorra - to legally participate in the league or other official competition, and FC Andorra already competes in the Spanish league system.With La Liga already seen as a two-team competition (although Atletico Madrid won the title last season to break Real and Barca's nine-season long duopoly) the loss of the Catalan giants would be a huge blow for the league's competitiveness.'If Catalonia became independent, taking into consideration the Sports Law that would be enforced by the rest of Spain, Barcelona wouldn't be allowed to play,' Tebas, the president of the LFP, told a sports conference in Barcelona.'There would have to be a change in the law made in the Spanish Parliament.'Clearly if it happened then it would be detrimental for Spanish football to lose Barca.'I can't imagine the LFP without Barca. In the same way as I can't imagine Catalonia without Spain, I can't see La Liga without Barca. Also if it did happen what would you call the league: the Spanish League or the Iberian League?'The fact that Andorra - a tiny state straddling the Pyrenees Mountains that separate Spain from France - is allowed to play in the league creates a precedent however that could permit the Catalan clubs' eventual inclusion.Xavi and Gerard Pique are among the Barca players who have come out in support of holding an independence referendum on November 9, following a September rally in Barcelona in favour of the vote, attended by 1.8 million people according to the police.The Catalan government will decide by October 15 whether to hold a referndum. 'We have all the right in the world to vote. We need to vote, we need the people to show their opinions and I am in favour of the referendum obviously,' Xavi told a news conference.Both he and Pique were or currently are Spain internationals and the latter says that he still gives his all when playing for La Roja.'I am Catalan and I wanted to take part in the rally. I went with friends to have a good time with the other 1.8 million that were there,' Pique told reporters.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.Az