- Inside – evidence of conspiracy between Rubiales and Piquet to pressure the Saudi Arabian authorities into paying to host the Spanish Super Cup.
- Initially, Rubiales and Pique considered the Santiago Bernabéu or Camp Nou as options for hosting the Super Cup, but considered these options unfeasible and switched to Saudi Arabia.
- An El Confidencial report claims that Piqué and Rubiales have been in talks since 2018 – it was Gerard who came up with the idea of a four-team tournament to boost the commercial value of the Super Bowl.
- Negotiations were conducted through Kosmos, which is owned by Piqué. Through the mediation of the company, the Royal Spanish Football Federation has signed a six-year contract to host the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. The transaction amount is 40 million euros for one tournament.
- Kosmos received 6 million euros for the deal. In addition, the company was supposed to receive another 4 million for each tournament held – a total of 24 million euros. The payment of this money was a prerequisite for holding the tournament in the country.
- Rubiales meanwhile tried to hide Gerard’s involvement in the negotiations. In 2019, the RFEF acknowledged that Kosmos was involved in hosting negotiations for the tournament, but Rubiales denied that any payments were made to Piqué’s company. However, in one of the audio recordings, Rubiales congratulates Piquet on the deal and “thanks for everything.”
- To make even more money from the Super Bowl, Rubiales and Piqué have drastically cut club entry fees. Real Madrid and Barcelona were given 8 million euros each, while the other two teams would receive only 1-2 million each.
“Ruby, look. Friend, if it’s about money, then Real Madrid will agree to 8 million euros [for participation in the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia]. You can give 8 million euros to Real Madrid, 8 million to Barça, 2 million and 1 million to others. And the federation will keep 6 million for itself. And we can put pressure on Saudi Arabia for an additional 1-2 million euros,” Pique Rubiales said.
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.