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Piqué’s company made €24M from Spanish Super Cup being played in Saudi Arabia

The Spanish football federation arranged for a commission of €24 million ($25.9 million) to be paid to Kosmos, the sports events company founded by Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, as part of the Spanish Super Cup moving to Saudi Arabia, a report in the Spanish press said on Monday.

Published: 19 April 2022 09:36 CEST

Piqué's company made €24M from Spanish Super Cup being played in Saudi Arabia

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) negotiated a €24 million commission for Kosmos, the sports events company chaired by Barcelona's defender Gerard Piqué. Photo: Pau BARRENA/AFP

According to El Confidencial, the contract negotiated by the federation includes Kosmos receiving €4 million for each of the six tournaments to be played in Saudi Arabia from 2020, while the federation receives €40 million for each competition.

“Piqué had a key role in the negotiations for the Spanish Super Cup to be hosted in Saudi Arabia, and throughout this process enjoyed preferential treatment from (federation president) Luis Rubiales, for reasons yet to be determined.

“A spokesperson for Piqué has denied that he received any special treatment,” El Confidencial wrote on Monday.

The first Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia took place in January 2020 between Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Valencia, with Real Madrid beating Atlético in the final.

Before the tournament, Rubiales confirmed in a press conference that Kosmos had participated in the negotiations with Saudi Arabia.

He said the federation had made no direct payment to the company, avoiding any conflict of interest and a breach of its code of ethics.

According to Marca on Monday, the federation believe “this information does not say anything new compared to what was made public in 2019”.

Gerard Piqué has responded to the scandal by saying that “everything we have done is legal” and when asked about a possible conflict of interests, the Barça and Spain defender argued that “a commercial issue has nothing to do with a result on the football field”.

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Spanish govt to 'oversee' scandal-hit football federation

“The Spanish government adopted this decision to redress the serious situation of the RFEF so that the organisation could enter a stage of renewal in a stable climate,” the National Sports Council (CSD), an agency dependent on the Ministry of Sports, announced.

Spain are set to host the 2030 World Cup along with Portugal and Morocco, but in recent months the RFEF has lurched from one embarrassment to another.

The CSD said it will create a “commission of supervision, standardisation and representation” led by “independent personalities” which will “oversee the RFEF during the coming months in response to the federation’s crisis and in defence of Spain’s general interests”.

According to the Spanish press, former Spain coach and 2010 World Cup winner Vicente del Bosque could be one of the members of this commission.

Former RFEF president Luis Rubiales resigned in disgrace last September after his forcible kiss on the lips of Women’s World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso and is now being investigated in a separate corruption probe.

The only candidate to replace Rubiales, Pedro Rocha, is also being investigated, while a report from the country’s leading sports court said the RFEF had taken decisions “beyond its remit”.

One such decision was the renewal of Spain coach Luis de la Fuente’s contract in February.

It was the sport court’s report that led to Thursday’s CSD decision to oversee the federation.

Elections for the RFEF presidency are currently scheduled for May 6th.

The Secretary of State for Sport and CSD president, José Manuel Uribes, on Thursday urged the RFEF “to limit its functions to the mere ordinary administration of the entity, as required by law”.

‘Unacceptable situation’

The CSD will meet again next Tuesday to analyse the situation and make a ruling, if necessary, on the corruption case opened by the sports court against Rocha, who took over from Rubiales on an interim basis.

In a year when RFEF will be responsible for Spain’s teams at the European Championship and the Olympic Games, the Spanish government is aiming “to restore the reputation, the good name and the image of Spanish football and complete the electoral process with a renewed assembly for the 2024-2028 period,” said Uribes in the CSD statement.

“We have to look after what we have in the future, the immediate future, which is the planning of the World Cup,” Uribes said in an appearance at Spain’s Congress of Deputies.

He pledged that the government will do everything to sort out the “unacceptable situation” at the RFEF.

Uribes also said he was “in constant communication with FIFA” regarding the RFEF.

“The CSD is going to guarantee that Spanish football maintains its excellence at the sporting level and also stands out as exemplary at the institutional level,” Uribes insisted on Thursday.

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