A review by the newspaper El Confidencial, to which Norwegian Nettavisen among others refers, reveals that Luis Rubiales, chairman of the Spanish Football Association, together with Piqué, pressured the Saudis on a substantial payment to hand over the event.
El Confidencial is leaning towards both leaked documents and audio recordings, and writes that it will be a total of around 24 million euros (close to 250 million kronor).
"Can separate"
The Swedish Football Association tells the newspaper that there is nothing in the current audio recordings that indicates that something illegal has taken place.
Piqué, for his part, defends his actions and denies having done anything illegal, but says he is proud of a job well done.
- I know how to separate a commercial contract from my job as a player.
A conflict of interest depends on each person's individual values, he says.
Gerard Piqué has received around 6 million euros (60 million kronor).
The Spanish Football Association is also said to have tried to keep the payment to Piqué secret, the newspaper writes.
Four million annually
It was already known that Gerard Piqué was involved in the negotiations with Saudi Arabia through his company Kosmos, which is said to receive 4 million euros for each year that the tournament is held in the country.
It was before the 2019-20 season that the Spanish Football Association announced that the tournament will be expanded from two to four teams, and that the matches will be played in Saudi Arabia.
Last year, the tournament was forced to be temporarily relocated to Spain due to the corona pandemic, but the agreement with Saudi Arabia is valid all the way until 2029.