Atlético de Madrid, led by Diego Simeone and with Nahuel Molina, Rodrigo De Paul and Ángel Correa, will face this Wednesday real Madrid in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the semi-final of the Spain Supercup, probably the most profitable business of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). The match will be played at the Al-Awwal Park stadium from 5:00 p.m. Argentine time and will be broadcast by DSports.
The 2024 edition of the Spanish Super Cup will open with the Madrid “derby” and this Wednesday they will play the other semifinal, Barcelona and Osasuna. The winners will go for the title in the final that will be played next Sunday at 4 p.m., Argentina time.
A five-day competition, with four participants and three matches, which brings in nearly 40 million euros in turnover. About 13 million euros per match.
In addition, it has the particularity that most of the income comes from a single client: Saudi Arabia. The relationship between the emirate and the Federation to take the tournament to the desert is now five years old, half of the contract signed in 2019 and extended a year later until 2029.
That decision, adopted by the previous board chaired by Luis Rubiales to save the 2020 accounts, ties the Federation to the Saudi country for the entire decade. It was a short-term measure to avoid adjustments to the contract, directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Saudi Arabia contributed the more than 30 million euros per year that it had committed for 2021, although that edition was not held in its country, but at the La Cartuja Stadium in Seville. Logistical problems and health prevention left the Super Cup without a flight, which this week returns to the Persian Gulf to contribute to the Rfef about 10% of its total annual budget.
But not only the Federation wins; The clubs have also made it profitable. And mainly, two: Real Madrid and Barcelona. By virtue of the multi-band agreement that was initially signed – also with the advice of Kosmos, Gerard Piqué’s holding company –, the two big Spanish clubs take a fee of 2.8 million euros just for participating. It is not an equitable distribution or one that only includes sporting merits in its prize pool.
Real Betis It invoiced about 750,000 euros last year; and the Valencia, 1.7 million euros. To this, each club can add two more million: one million for reaching the final, and another for winning the title.
This unequal distribution has already led to complaints, such as the one filed by Valencia and which ended with an out-of-court agreement by which the Rfef had to pay close to 3 million euros to the Ché club for its two participations (2020 and 2023). This setback on what was budgeted for the Federation is expected to serve to balance the conditions in the distributions starting this season. One of the debutants in this edition, Osasuna has already explained that it expects to invoice around 1.5 million euros. Atlético de Madrid, the fourth participant, has a fee of about 2.3 million euros, according to the 2Playbook portal.
Bills
At this point, there is an important aspect: all travel and accommodation costs are covered by the Federation through the contract with Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that the expenditure in this section is about 300,000 euros, which would leave the Rfef with about 27 million euros.which are partly redistributed between amateur and women’s football.
Likewise, and although specific details of the contract have never been officially given, it was always said that, in addition to the tournament venue, the agreement included different football development programs in Saudi Arabia, especially women’s football.
Furthermore, another important aspect of the business of the current Spanish Super Cup is the when and how. With the entry of Saudi money, the tournament went from summer to winter and from a round-trip final to a single-match play-off that revalued its appeal for television.
An example of this is the nearly 6 million euros annually paid by Movistar+, with a contract until the 2025 edition inclusive, improving the previous value by 55%. Thus, the value of the rights for Spain and Andorra has increased to 18.6 million euros for the three years. To this must be added 510,000 euros for production.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
