Kosmos, Gérard Pique’s company, received €24m to transfer the Super Cup from Spain to Saudi Arabia

“A decisive role” of Pique in the negotiations

The online news site, which had access to documents and private audio messages between Pique and RFEF president Luis Rubiales, reports that the Spanish football federation receives 40 million euros per season for each of the six editions organized in Saudi Arabia since 2020 (i.e. 240 million euros in total), while Kosmos receives 4 million euros per season, i.e. 24 million euros in total.

“Pique was instrumental in the negotiations for the Supercopa de España to be hosted in Saudi Arabia, and enjoyed preferential treatment from Rubiales throughout the process, for reasons yet to be determined. A spokesperson for Pique denied that he received any special treatment“, wrote El Confidencial on Monday. Contacted by AFP, Kosmos has so far not responded.

Information already (partially) known in 2019

The first edition of the Spanish Super Cup in the territory of this Gulf monarchy took place in January 2020 between FC Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Valencia CF, and was won by Real Madrid ( 0-0, 4-1 on pens against Atlético in the final).

A few weeks before this first edition, Rubiales had already confirmed in a press conference that Kosmos had intervened in the negotiations with Saudi Arabia, and had stressed that the federation had made no direct payment to the company founded by Pique, avoiding thus a breach of its code of ethics adopted unanimously by the federation in December 2019.

The Federation responded

On Thursday, the RFEF denounced in a statement that it had been the victim of a “computer attack as part of a criminal action” and indicated that “documents, conversations and private audios of the president and the general secretary“had been stolen.

In remarks reported Monday by the sports daily Brandthe best-selling newspaper in Spain, the federation estimated that “this information does not bring anything new compared to what was made public in 2019“. “All the figures for the operation had been presented, explained and voted on by the assembly. It’s part of the campaign of harassment and discredit we’re used to“, explains a leader of the federation, quoted by Brand.