<Tr> <Th> Average attendance </Th> <Td> 26,749 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> ← 2016--17 2018--19 → All statistics correct as of 1 October 2017 . </Td> </Tr> <P> The 2017--18 La Liga season, also known as La Liga Santander for sponsorship reasons, is the 87th since its establishment . The season began on 18 August 2017 and is scheduled to conclude on 20 May 2018 . The fixtures of the 2017--18 season were released on 21 July 2017 . </P> <P> Real Madrid are the defending champions . </P>

When does the new la liga season start