One thing is that football is also a business, which we are not going to discover now, and quite another that this business is closed in an opaque way, taking advantage of their privileged position, the president of the Federation and the active captain of Barça ,
whose intervention shows a more than likely conflict of interest.
The information published by EL MUNDO and
El Confidencial
reveal that the mediation of Gerard Piqué's company for the Spanish Super Cup to be played in Arabia Sa
During six editions, udí earns the player a commission of 24 million euros and the Federation another 40 million.
A very bulky figures that are agreed, let us not forget, with
a satrapy that violates the most basic human rights.
It so happens that a part of Luis Rubiales' salary is variable: he charges a percentage - no matter how small - of any income received by the body he presides over.
The fact that the Saudis conditioned 10 million from the commission on Real Madrid and Barcelona reaching the final four, with the Federation being in charge of choosing the referees for the tournament,
directly links Rubiales' personal profit to this negotiation.
As for Piqué, he is not only a professional footballer who plays in a competition in which he has participated commercially, but he is also the owner of a football club that plays in Andorra under the umbrella of the Federation itself.
Rubiales has not wanted to show his face, but Piqué going out to attack a country that is scandalized by his actions betrays his loss of sense of reality.
Of course, it will be the Justice that must determine if Rubiales and Piqué have incurred in incompatibilities punishable by law.
But it is already possible to draw conclusions of a moral, political and aesthetic nature.
It is not innocuous to do business with a country that continues to ban women from entering a soccer field, among other abuses.
The fix also portrays the cynicism of a Piqué who celebrated the publication of some private audios when they affected Florentino Pérez, but now protests angrily when they reveal not only disqualifications but
a million-dollar operation to profit from a deal with the Arab theocracy.
Not to mention his floating nationality: the Barça captain has gone from supporting the illegal 1-O referendum to suggesting an approach to Juan Carlos I to grease the pending payments with the Saudi authorities.
The same Juan Carlos I who was whistled at the Camp Nou with the complicity of Piqué.
The matter, in short, presents murky aspects from any angle that is examined, especially in the case of the Spanish Super Cup, that is, of the global image of our country.
The immediate reaction of other clubs - "It is clear that it is convenient for Barça and Madrid to go", Simeone declared - reveals to what extent
the competition runs the risk of being adulterated and discredited before the fans.
That they do not deserve such an unedifying spectacle around a sport in need of profound regeneration.
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