Again, a final without champions. Neither the League champion nor the Cup champion have managed to reach the decisive game for the title in the three editions of the Spanish Super Cup that have been played with the new format. The curse continues. On Sunday, the current runners-up in the League (Real Madrid) and the Cup (Athletic) will compete for the trophy, in an unprecedented final but that will reissue the first semifinal of last season, in which the lions beat the madridistas in Malaga.
The first Super Cup with the new format with four participating teams was taken by Real Madrid in 2020. The Whites participated as third-placed in the League, since Barça had left a vacancy after having been champion of the regularity tournament and runner-up in the Cup last season. Madrid defeated Valencia in the semifinals, winner of the KO tournament and in the final they accounted for in the penalty shoot-out Atlético, who went to Jeddah as runner-up in the League.
Something similar happened last year, although Athletic and Real Sociedad attended the tournament (held in Andalusia) without having decided who was the champion of the Cup from the previous season. The lions, ultimately runners-up in the postponed final, eliminated Madrid, league champions. And Barcelona, runner-up in the League, appealed to Real, which three months later would win the cup pending title. In the final, played at La Cartuja, Athletic won the Super Cup.
Condition of the Spanish Super Cup champions
| Double champions (by assignment)1 | 2 |
| Double Champions (per tournament) | 3 |
| League Champions | 19 |
| Cup Champions | 8 |
| Cup runners-up | 4 |
| Third of League | 1 |
1 In the 1983-84 and 1988-89 seasons, the title was automatically assigned to Athletic and Real Madrid respectively, having won the League and the Cup the previous season. In later editions, if a team won the double, the Cup runner-up participated in the tournament.
In the seasons 1985-86 and 1986-87 the tournament was not played.
This year, again in Saudi Arabia, now in Riyadh, history repeats itself. The Cup champion (Barcelona) and the League champion (Atlético) have fallen in the semifinals at the hands of the runners-up. Real Madrid and Athletic will meet for the third time in 47 days. Another Classic of Spanish football (it will be the 239th match between the two teams) between two teams that will play an unprecedented final since the creation of the tournament in the 1982-83 season. And yet it will be, at the same time, the first duel to be repeated in the new competition format. On Sunday, rematch or revalidation of the title.
The solo Cup champion has not won the title since 2006-2007
For Cup champions, the curse is even longer. The last team that won the Super Cup as the winner of the KO tournament without being League champion at the same time was Sevilla in the 2006-2007 season., when he beat Real Madrid. Since then, Barcelona has won three Super Cups being current League and Cup champions, but the other ten teams that won the Cup and not the League were unable to lift the Super Cup.
