Big scandal that Pique started
How did you come to play in Saudi Arabia?
In 2018, the Spanish Football Federation wanted to squeeze more profit out of the Super Cup, and officials came up with the idea of a whole play-off system instead of the standard two matches. In February 2019, they showed a new format, and they also set the games for January, just in the middle of the season. At the same time, at first, Real Madrid and Barca were bred according to the grid so that they could only meet in the final, but later the federation itself recognized the idea as unsuccessful. The places were divided as follows: the finalists of the Spanish Cup plus the two best teams in La Liga, which at the same time did not play in the Cup final. After the approval of the new format, the head of the federation, Luis Rubiales, was looking for a place where they would be willing to pay a lot for top football.
- Initially, there were offers from Qatar, China and the USA on the Spaniards’ table. Then Gerard Piqué appeared – he helped to contact the authorities of Saudi Arabia through his investment company Kosmos. The US option was promoted by the head of La Liga, Javier Tebas, but his idea was abandoned in favor of the eastern market, where Spain is much more popular. Tebas continues to talk about the United States, but now in the context of La Liga matches.
- Saudi Arabia became interested and offered space conditions to the federation – 120 million euros for 3 years. In the summer of 2021, Marca wrote that the Super Bowl will be held in Riyadh until 2029. So the Spaniards will receive from 240 to 320 million, if everything goes smoothly.