Gerard Pique company pocketed £20m for role in taking Spanish tournament to Saudi Arabia

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique’s company Kosmas reportedly pocketed £20million for the footballer’s role in ensuring the Spanish Supercopa is played in Saudi Arabia.

In 2020, the tournament was revolutionised by moving from the traditional two-team format played ahead of La Liga starting to a mid-season four-team edition to be played in January, with the games exported to Saudi Arabia. The new-look tournament is now contested between the winners and runners-up of the Copa del Rey and La Liga from the previous season.

A range of documents and audio files that have been released by El Confidencial which claim to be conversations between Barca defender Pique and Spanish FA president Luis Rubiales. They show that the two were in regular contact throughout 2019 to work on clinching an agreement with Saudi Arabia to host the tournament.

The deal was clinched on 15 September 2019 – a day after Pique netted for Barca in a 5-2 win over Valencia at Camp Nou. An audio document alleges to show Spanish FA chief Rubiales telling Pique: "Geri, congratulations. And I'm not referring to yesterday's great match or your goal. I mean that it's already past 12 o'clock and therefore the agreement with Saudi Arabia is already closed. A hug, thanks for everything and here I am for whatever you need."

A spokesperson speaking on Pique’s behalf has explained to El Confidencial that the footballer did not receive any favourable treatment from Rubiales during the negotiation process, while the Spanish FA have refused to comment on the information.

The Spanish FA responded on Monday morning: "The information does not add anything new to what was published in 2019. All the numbers of the operation were presented, explained and supported by the