Spanish Clásico in Riyadh: "This is business for us"

At 35, Raúl García is one of the more experienced professionals in the Spanish league, you could think of him as a romantic. "I'm one of those from before," said the Bilbao Athletic Club striker of himself. It is incomprehensible to him that four Spanish teams are flying to Saudi Arabia to play for the Spanish Football Association's Super Cup. "The tournament should be played here," he demands and at the same time acknowledges: "We all know what it's about" - namely 30 million euros from the Saudis, which the Spanish Football Association shares with the four participating clubs.

And this year the association has a special export hit on offer: the “Clásico”, the match between cup winners FC Barcelona and second place in the league, Real Madrid, with which the small tournament in Riyadh will open this Wednesday (8:00 p.m. CET) . On Thursday (8:00 p.m. CET) Bilbao will face champions Atlético de Madrid. The winners of both matches will have to fly to Riyadh again for the final on January 16. Luis Rubiales openly admits: "This is about business," said the chairman of the Spanish Football Association.

The association receives 30 million euros from the Saudis every season for the Supercup, plus the costs of the organization. He has just extended the contract, which has been in force since 2020, until 2029. Rubiales has been in office for four years, during which time the budget of the “Royal Football Federation of Spain” has quadrupled to more than 400 million euros - that means more money for amateur sport and the professionalization of women's football. This is how he justifies the export of the Supercup.

The “Supercopa” has only existed since the early 1980s.

The league champions and the cup winners competed against each other at the start of the season.

Hardly anyone was interested in the game, says football economist Luis Carlos Sánchez.

It was Rubiales' first idea to turn it into a tournament.

The former Levante professional upgraded the trophy and marketed it well, says Sánchez.

Spanish association as "useful idiot"

Amnesty International has meanwhile sent association officials and players from participating clubs purple armbands. You should stand up for equality and freedom of expression during the encounters in Saudi Arabia, emphasize the role of activists for equality in Saudi Arabia, said the Spanish Amnesty Director Esteban Beltrán, "in a country where activists are sentenced to long prison terms who are banned from traveling abroad or speaking to foreign journalists ”. These bans, for example against the women's rights activists Loujain al-Hathloul or Nassima al-Sada named by Amnesty, will probably continue to apply during the games of the Spanish teams in Riyadh.

Before the first Spanish Supercup in Saudi Arabia in 2020, Rubiales had spoken of “the Supercopa of equality”, and in fact women with bare hair could be seen next to men in the stands at the games.

But Amnesty considers the attempt to change something simply by the presence of the Spanish players in the country to be naive.

Rather, the Spanish federation cannot shake the reputation of playing a role with its Supercopa that is called in Spain "el tonto útil", the useful idiot who washes the image of the Saudi regime clean of the accusations of silencing critics or im Accepting the serious consequences of the war in Yemen for the civilian population.

The fan association FASFE thinks that the Supercopa in Saudi Arabia will damage Spain’s foreign policy image more than the petrodollars are good for football.

"I am clearly against Spanish competitions being held abroad, and in Saudi Arabia at that," Abejón said at the football association's most recent plenary session when the fan organization was allowed to speak for the first time.

Rubiales had once decided against the relocation of Spanish games abroad.

In the 2018/19 season, La Liga wanted to host the encounter between Girona and FC Barcelona in Miami, and a year later the game between Villareal and Atlético de Madrid.

The clubs agreed; foreign TV markets, especially in the USA, are becoming increasingly important for Spanish professional clubs.

Rubiales was still arguing at the time that Spanish games should also be played in Spain and refused to agree.

In the meantime, Rubiales not only organizes the Super Cup in the USA, but also suggests that the entire league should not be played at home and away, but rather individual matches "in neutral locations".

So far, La Liga has not played a part.