Spanish Super Cup's format, relocation to Saudi Arabia due to football's desire for money says Valverde
Ernesto Valverde
Barcelona Manager Ernesto Valverde raised his concerns over the newly revised form of Spanish Super Cup.
"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," said Ernesto Valverde during the news conference held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Previously the Super Cup was held between the La Liga winners and the Copa del Ray winners, but last year the Spanish football federationagreed to double the number of teams (top two teams of La Liga and Copa del Ray) and take the competition outside Spain permanently as well as moving the playing months from August to January.
In 2018, the Super Cup was held as a one-off game in Tangier, Morocco. Barcelona had one this fixture and won the Super Cup
Ernesto Valverde went on to say "I know there has been a lot said about this competition but the bottom line is football has become a business and as a business, it looks for income."
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“The reason why we are here and why we were in Morocco is because the authorities are looking for more sources of income,” added Valverde.
This move faced heavy criticism from the traditional fan bases for scheduling the matches out of Spain. Relocating the matches in Saudi also is criticised as Saudi Arabia has been poor in terms of Human Rights.
A controversial three-year contract worth 120 million euros was struck between the Spanish Football Federationand Saudi Arabia, the deal was only signed after Saudi Arabia agreed that women would be able to attend the games.
The clubs will also benefit financially. For participating alone, Real Madrid and Barcelona will earn around 6 million euros while Atletico and Valencia will make around 3 million euros.
Barcelona faces Atletico in the second semi-finaltoday, with the winner facing Real Madrid in the final on Sunday after Zinedine Zidane's side beat Valencia 3-1.