Football La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona will clash on Sunday night in the final match of the Spanish Super Cup. Next week, Napoli, Fiorentina, Inter and Lazio will decide the superiority of Italy’s corresponding tournament.
The matches are played in Saudi Arabia, like more and more other top football games.
At the end of December, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce were supposed to meet in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, in the super cup, where the champions of the previous season’s Turkish league and Cup are playing.
However, the match was canceled due to a dispute between the clubs and the Saudi organizers.
At the end of the year, the World Cup tournament for club teams was played in Saudi Arabia. The World Cup for national teams is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2034.
Money talks
The Spanish Super Cup has been played in Saudi Arabia since the 2019–2020 season. At the same time, the traditional competition between the main league and Cup winner was expanded into a four-team tournament.
Playing abroad has been criticized. In 2022 Athletic Bilbao Midfield Raul Garcia called the supercup “complete nonsense”.
– Football is now just about making money and looking for sponsors. I may be of the old school, but the sport has changed and the fans have been forgotten, Garcia said.
The then head of the Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales justified the reform by increasing visibility.
– We took a forgotten match in the middle of the summer and turned it into an international event, which is probably the biggest short tournament in the world, Rubiales said.
This year, the Italian Supercup will be organized for the first time in Saudi Arabia and with a four-team format.
The reason for taking tournaments to Saudi Arabia is money. For example, the Spanish Football Association has decided to play the Super Cup in the Arabian Peninsula until 2029. Saudi Arabia pay 30 million euros for the country’s football association every year.
Cultural differences
The big club matches played in Saudi Arabia have caused confusing situations.
The above-mentioned Turkish Super Cup final was ultimately not played because the organizers and the Turkish clubs argued about whether the clubs were allowed to celebrate the centenary of modern Turkey and its founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk before the starting whistle.
In the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, the late German football legend was honored by Franz Beckenbauer a memory in a quiet moment.
The match was watched by locals instead of Spaniards, who booed Beckenbauer during the moment. Public behavior dismayed in Europe. A local reporter by the audience didn’t have anything against Beckenbauer, but in Saudi Arabia, quiet moments are haunted.
In the same game, the crowd also showed their support to the Real Madrid midfielder For Toni Kroos. The crowd, mostly dressed in Real shirts, booed the German every time he touched the ball.
2014 world champion Kroos reviewed in the summer Players moving to Saudi Arabia after money. According to Kroos, transfers destroy football. He said that he would not go to play in the country because of the lack of human rights.
– Players who are in the middle of their career and have enough quality to play in Europe will move there. Then they say it’s a sporting decision, when the truth is it’s just about money, Kroos said.
Real Madrid won the game in the overtime match 5–3 and advanced to the final.
– It was fun today. Great audience, Kroos acknowledged in X.
Back to Europe?
After the winter transfer window opened, some of the big names who moved to Saudi Arabia in the summer want to move back to European fields.
For example, the one who transferred from Liverpool to Al-Ettifaq, accompanied by a tumultuous contract With Jordan Henderson have had difficulties adapting to the new environment. The British player has had difficulties with the heat, humidity and playing conditions.
The matches have been watched by an average of less than 8,000 spectators, while the club’s stadium could accommodate 35,000 people. Ettifaq have won only six of their 19 league matches, the most recent of which was in October.
Henderson, who is still part of the England national team, signed a three-year contract with Ettifaq, and he may have to pay around eight million euros in fees if he leaves in January.
Also, for example, in Al Ittihad, he finished with nine goals Karim Benzemawho moved from Wolverhampton to Al-Hilal Ruben Nevesand a long-time member of Liverpool’s attacking team Roberto Firmino (Al-Ahli) has been reported to want out of the Saudi League.