What the Supercopa means to Barcelona and Real Madrid… and why it’s played in Saudi Arabia – The Athletic
The Supercopa de Espana, Spain’s equivalent of the English Community Shield, kicks off with Barcelona’s semi-final against Athletic Club on Wednesday… in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
For six of the past seven seasons, the Supercopa has been held as a four-team mini-tournament in the Gulf nation. Saudi Arabia has a contract to host the event until 2029, although The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the Spanish football federation (RFEF) is considering moving it to an alternative location in the Middle East for 2027 due to a clash with the Asian Cup.
The decision to move the competition to Saudi Arabia has led to plenty of criticism.
Last month, Athletic’s captain Inaki Williams told reporters the arrangement was “s**t” for fans and players of the teams involved. Saudi Arabia has regularly been criticised for its human rights record and, last year, Spanish football’s main supporters’ association warned of the “risk for female fans” after partners of Real Mallorca players alleged they were “harassed” during a Supercopa tie in Jeddah.
On the pitch, what was once effectively a set of pre-season matches now serves as a barometer for the second half of a campaign for Barcelona and Real Madrid, one or the other of whom tends to end up winning the Spanish title. In five of the past six seasons, the team that lifted the Supercopa have gone on to be crowned La Liga champions, too.
So how important is the Supercopa de Espana? And why is it played thousands of miles from Spain?
What is the Supercopa de Espana, and why is a Spanish competition happening in Saudi Arabia?
The Supercopa was traditionally played in August, like the Community Shield in England. And as with that fixture in England, it featured the previous season’s league champions and winners of the Copa del Rey (Spain’s FA Cup equivalent), albeit meeting over two legs, home and away, rather than in a single game.
It often served as a curtain-raiser to each new season — with memorable instances including a fiery Clasico edition in 2011, when then Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho poked Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova in the eye during a touchline scuffle involving both teams, and Athletic Club’s 5-1 aggregate win against Barcelona four years later.
In late 2019, the Spanish football federation’s president at the time, Luis Rubiales, proudly announced a newly-expanded format also involving the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa del Rey from the previous season, to now be played each January in Saudi Arabia.
“This is the ‘Equality Supercopa’,” Rubiales said in response to concerns from some politicians and organisations about human-rights issues. “We can either stand aside or we can get involved and contribute to change.”
Luis Rubiales called the competition in Saudi Arabia the ‘equality Supercopa’ (David Benito/Getty Images)
The €40million-a-year (£34.6m/$46.8m at the current exchange rates) deal between the Spanish federation and the Saudi government’s Sela sports marketing body was brokered by former Barcelona and Spain player Gerard Pique, whose company Kosmos received €24m in commission.
A continuing judicial investigation into possible corruption during Rubiales’ highly controversial time as federation president has looked closely at this agreement. Both Rubiales and Pique have said nothing untoward took place.
New federation president Rafael Louzan is also a backer of the current format and venue, with the money raised significantly contributing towards the organisation’s finances.
Links between Spain’s football industry and Saudi Arabia have grown considerably over recent years, and the two countries’ national teams are set to meet in Group H of this year’s World Cup finals.
Dermot Corrigan
How important is the Supercopa to Barcelona?
It is definitely significant in taking the mid-season temperature for Barcelona, given teams who have won the Supercopa in recent years tend to go on to lift that year’s La Liga title as well.
Previous manager Xavi’s side seemed destined for a golden era in January 2023 after they outclassed arch-rivals Real Madrid 3-1 in the Supercopa final. It did not work out quite like that, though they still enjoyed a successful season, finishing 10 points clear of Madrid as league champions. A year later, it was Madrid who outplayed the Catalans in the final, winning 4-1. That proved to be Xavi’s final campaign in charge.
Last season, his successor Hansi Flick’s Barcelona were undoubtedly boosted by their 5-2 thrashing of Madrid in the final, en route to a domestic treble including La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
Beginning against Athletic Club tonight in Jeddah, they will be looking for the same effect.
Flick’s side are four points clear of Madrid in La Liga, with 11 points more than they had last term at this stage and having won their past eight games across all competitions. Inside the dressing room, however, they know improvements are needed if they want to dream bigger in the Champions League.
That is why the Supercopa is seen as a potentially defining point — besides a win against your biggest rivals in the final, if they both get there, being an instant boost at all levels of the club. After what happened at the Bernabeu in October — when they lost 2-1 and a post-match melee ensued — Barcelona will have a point to prove if it proves to be a Clasico final on Sunday.
Pol Ballus
How important is it to Real Madrid?
This year, it is perceived as more important than ever, as the view inside and outside the club is that new head coach Xabi Alonso’s future could depend on what happens in this tournament.
A defeat in Thursday’s semi-final against city rivals Atletico — Madrid lost 5-2 away to Diego Simeone’s side in a La Liga derby meeting back in September — or against arch-enemies Barcelona in a potential final on Sunday would leave Alonso under greater scrutiny than ever.
At a club level, the Supercopa has gained prominence since the format change. The matches in it tend to be highly demanding, usually involving Barcelona and Atletico as the opponents, there is more money at stake and the tournament being played in Saudi Arabia appeals to Madrid’s hierarchy in terms of impact and brand growth.
Real Madrid won the 2024 Supercopa by beating Barcelona in the final (Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
On a sporting level, it also receives more interest. A poor result in the old format produced less of an impact than now, in the middle of the season. Coaches and players alike are also very aware of that.
Mario Cortegana
What about the other two clubs taking part?
The four-team format has ensured Real Madrid and Barcelona are involved in the Supercopa every year, with the qualifying criteria sometimes changing from season to season.
Atletico Madrid and Athletic Club are the other teams taking part in 2026, having finished third and fourth in La Liga last season, when Barcelona beat Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.
Atletico have qualified for five of the six Saudi Arabia-based Supercopas, but Diego Simeone’s team have rarely shown their top form in the competition. Their best performance was in 2020, when they lost the final on penalties to their neighbours from across the Spanish capital.
A triumph for Atletico this year would be well-timed, given their hierarchy is pushing through a sale of the majority of the club’s shares to American asset management company Apollo Global Management. It would also be a first trophy under Simeone since their 2020-21 La Liga title.
Bilbao-based Athletic have taken part in five of the six tournaments played so far under the expanded format. The Basque side’s best showing came in January 2021, eliminating Real Madrid 2-1 in the semi-final and then beating Barcelona 3-2, after extra time, to lift the trophy. That edition was held behind closed doors in Seville due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Athletic Club’s Inaki Williams kisses the trophy in January 2021 (RFEF – Pool/Getty Images)
Inaki Williams, who scored the winner against Barca in that final five years ago, is one of the Athletic players who has regularly criticised playing the tournament mid-season, and so far away from their own supporters.
“For me, playing (the tournament) in Saudi Arabia is s**t,” Williams said last week. “Taking a national competition out to another country does not make things easy for (the fans) to move and follow the games. When we play there (in Saudi), it feels like we are the away team.”
On Tuesday, Williams said the word he used was perhaps not “appropriate” but added “it continues to be a pain for everyone, above all for Athletic fans”.
Athletic are also among the clubs to have been angered by the Spanish federation’s policy of heavily favouring the Clasico duo when sharing out the Supercopa’s prize money, with a significant portion being allocated according to an unspecified “brand weight”. Their club president Jon Uriarte complained last year about them receiving the least of the four participating teams, which would still have been the case even if they had won the tournament, but the situation remains the same 12 months on.
Last year’s competition also saw partners of Real Mallorca players allege they were “harassed” during their semi-final defeat to Madrid. Spain’s main football supporters’ association subsequently warned of the risk for female fans in Saudi Arabia. RFEF president Louzan formally apologised for the incidents suffered by the Mallorca fans in an interview with the news agency EFE last January.
Dermot Corrigan
