Spanish Super Cup to Return to Saudi Arabia With Fans in Attendance
By Adam Aladay
The Spanish Super Cup will return to Saudi Arabia in January and will take place between 13 January and 16 January with fans in attendance.
Real Madrid won the mini-tournament last year, first overcoming Valencia 3-1 before beating Atletico Madrid in the final on penalties. For the second year in a row, the competition will return to the Middles East in the new year, with Los Blancos, Barcelona, 2020 Copa del Rey finalists Real Sociedad and Athletic Club the four teams who will participate.
AS report that the competition will run from 13 January to 16 January and will be played in front of an audience despite the pandemic. Real and Barcelona are both involved as they finished top of La Liga and runners up respectively, while Athletic Club and Real Sociedad both reached the yet-to-be-played final of the Copa del Rey.
The rules state that Madrid - as winners of La Liga - will take on the runners up in the Copa del Rey in the semi-finals, but with that fixture postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, they could take on either Sociedad or Athletic.
The first semi-final will take place on the Wednesday, while the second clash will be played the following day. But with the final scheduled for Saturday 16 January, this means that the first semi-finalists will have extra time to rest and recover.
The competition was extended to four teams last year, as opposed to the previous two-team format. The first four-team Super Cup competition was played in Saudi Arabia last year as part of a three year agreement reached by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). This will see them pick up €120m.
AS state that half of this money will be distributed among the four clubs taking part in the competition, although it isn't clear exactly how much each team will earn.