The Spanish Super Cup, which was announced in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia early next year, is threatened not to broadcasted on television in a protest against the black record of human rights and violations of the Saudi regime.
According to the British Guardian newspaper that the official Spanish television broadcasting service (TIVE) announced that it will not apply to broadcast the activities of the Spanish Super Cup football held in the Kingdom because of the black record of human rights violations.
The Spanish Football Federation announced a three-year contract to play the new tournament in the Kingdom, with the participation of clubs Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Valencia, and is scheduled to start the first edition of the tournament in January 2020.
This drew criticism from some in the sports world and accused the federation of giving priority to money and ignoring abuses by Riyadh, such as the decline of women’s rights, and the assassination of anti-regime journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in Istanbul last year inside his consulate.
“Spanish state television will not join the bid to buy the rights to broadcast the Spanish Super Cup in the Kingdom because of the country’s violation of human rights, especially women’s rights in sports,” said Jesús Álvarez, head of the sports department of Spain’s official radio and television service.
“Until recently, women here were not allowed to watch football matches. Human rights are fundamental to this institution, which has given a huge boost to women’s sports in recent years, and we cannot overlook it.”
In announcing that Riyadh will host the Super Cup in its new form on Monday, November 11, 2019, Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation, said he is ensuring that women can attend the games without any restrictions.
“Our idea is that football can become a tool for changing societies,” he said. There are people who will make this decision, others oppose it, but we are confident that it is the right decision.”
The federation did not mention the amount of money from the deal, but stressed that the full amount would be invested in the air and women’s football championships sector, away from the money earned by the four participating teams.
The Spanish newspaper ABC claimed that the Spanish federation would receive between 35-40 million euros (40-44 million dollars) for each year of the duration of the agreement.