Will the Saudi public get tired of the Spanish Super Cup?

• Chronicle Barça shakes an indolent Madrid and recovers stripes in the Super Cup

Will the Saudi public get tired of the

?

That is the big question that floats around after three editions in which the duel between

and

is the one that has aroused real interest.

The one that took place on Sunday in the final brought together 57,340 spectators in a stadium for 67,000 that the RFEF leaves at 62,000 in this competition.

Although the visual sensation was that it was close to full, with spectators even occupying the stairs, the truth is that this classic in the final was not the game with the largest audience since the tournament was held in

.

The Spanish Super Cup has been held in Asia since 2020 and will continue until 2029. The possibility that interest will decline is a fear despite the fact that Barça and Real Madrid, the only teams that are attractive to Saudi fans, have a guaranteed presence.

And the competition has multiplied.

The Spanish trophy was joined by the Italian, but also by star-studded club friendlies such as

, who return this season with

,

and

to face a selection of players from local clubs

and

.

Added to this is the takeoff of an incipient league that already has a star like

.

An example is that the 25,000 seats at the Al-Nassr Mrsool Park stadium are sold out for the next three games and for the duel against the Parisian team at the King Fahd the tickets flew with two million requests.

A stadium that the Super Cup, with popular prices ranging from 22 euros to 71, did not fill and that will burst four days later.

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The Saudis have a passion for soccer, but the elite of the sport no longer turn their faces to it.

Government efforts and their dollars have managed to multiply the events and the public is beginning to spread.

In 2019, the president of the Spanish Federation,

, announced a change in format to transform the duel between the League champion and the Copa del Rey champion into a four-way final where the finalists would also be.

He then relocated it through an agreement with the Saudi government until 2025 with alternating venues between Jeddah and Riyadh.

Everything, with the mediation of

,

's company , and in exchange for

that would prop up non-professional football.

The first edition was in Jeddah, at the King Abdullah stadium with a capacity for 62,000 spectators.

The semifinal between Valencia and Real Madrid brought together 40,877 spectators, compared to 58,410 for Atlético-Barça, due to Messi's pull.

The final between the two Madrid clubs was followed at the stadium by 59,053, the highest number so far.

And it is that the pandemic prevented it from returning to Saudi lands in 2021 and it was held in Seville.

On the return in 2022, this time to Riyadh, the capacity limitations due to

meant that it would have been full in the classic that lived in the semifinal, 30,000 spectators, but only 8,000 were in the stands at Atlético-Athletic.

In the final, another full house to see Ancelotti's team proclaimed champion, to the delight of the many white fans.

With the return to normality post-pandemic and with 62,000 spectators, Real Madrid, European champion and with the Ballon d'Or as its banner, 50,492 fans saw it reach the penalty shootout with Valencia, but the gaps in the stands were they

noticed much more at

, which was attended by only 38,624 spectators.

With the classic served, the stadium showed its best face.

A judicialized tournament

With the interest in Real Madrid and Barça, less without Messi, the four-way format is only justified as the way to ensure that, at some point, there will be a duel between the two.

2029 seems far away in a country whose football is advancing quickly and with investment to attract any team in the world and, furthermore, is under judicial review.

filed a lawsuit in Madrid

Commercial

in June 2020 for the economic distribution that the RFEF has made in successive editions.

After analyzing the documentation that, after two years and a

, sent by the federal body, it has been admitted for processing.

Valencia, which has played

for having raised objections to the federative contracts, claims financial compensation.

His request focuses on the distribution of commercial rights, which reserve 2.8 million euros for Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​while Valencia must collect 1.2 million (they owe them those of 2020) and Betis 750,000 euros.

The future of this Super Cup model may also depend on the judicial result of this lawsuit.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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