Pique: Super Cup moves to Saudi Arabia without catnip This business I did a beautiful job

Live Bar April 19 News Late at night on April 18, Barca centre-back Pique responded to a report by The Secret on the Twitch channel. Pique said moving the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia was a normal business operation and there were no unseemly secrets. It was a successful business operation, with money earned by the Spanish Football Association helping small and medium-sized clubs.

Earlier on April 18, The Secret exposed a recording of Pique's phone call with Spanish Football Association President Rubiales years ago, in which the two discussed the specific details of the Spanish Super Cup move to Saudi Arabia.

Here is a transcript of Pique's conversation with Corbe radio host Juan ma-Castanios.

Why does the name of Kosmos only appear in the annex to the contract?

Kosmos provides services to Sela (with a Saudi government background) and charges Sela a service fee. Kosmos does not charge service fees to the Spanish Football Federation. I don't know the details of the lawyer's work and the contract. It is my understanding that the annex is also part of the contract. Our lawyers did the specifics. The contract existed, and although Komos was written in the annex to the contract, it was still written in the contract.

If Real Madrid and Barca do not participate in the Spanish Super Cup, will the revenue of Kosmos and the Spanish Football Association decrease?

I think that's true. As to whether Real Madrid or Barca participate in the Super Cup, there are indeed penalties in the contract. But that's a request from the Saudis, who want to make sure the two teams play in the Super Cup. As long as these two teams participate, the Super Cup has a higher competitive value. If they do not participate, a penalty clause is imposed.

—— Do you regret the exposure of the recording? Should someone else have negotiated on your behalf in the first place?

It is true that it should be negotiated by someone else (on my behalf). But given my relationship with the president of the FA, I think it should be up to me to negotiate. I don't regret it. Instead, I think we're doing great. Neither legally nor morally, we did anything wrong.

– Moving the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia, does it make football closer to money or closer to the fans? Do you think it's morally illegal to hold the Super Cup in a country that doesn't respect human rights?

The Spanish Super Cup belongs to the fans, but the fans of Spanish football are distributed all over the world. The Super Cup is held abroad, which gives everyone the opportunity to watch the Super Cup live. La Liga fans are not only in Spain alone. There are several teams in Spain that have a global reach. Hosting the Spanish Super Cup around the world helps to add more fans to Spanish football. Of course, the Spanish Football Association is the organizer of the Super Cup, and it doesn't matter what I think of it.

- At that time, did Barça understand the negotiation process?

President Bartomeu is fully aware of the negotiation process and other elements involved.

– Is it possible for you to return to the Spanish national team?

I told this to Ibai. The chances of me no longer playing for the national team are 99.9%.

This agreement can also help the small club

Thanks to the Spanish Super Cup agreement signed with Saudi Arabia, the small teams in La Liga, La Liga and La Liga can get some funding. Otherwise, it is impossible for them to receive similar funding.

Why are you involved in this kind of business?

I don't do business for money. I could lie comfortably on the couch for the rest of my life and don't have to do anything. But in this society, if you can make money, it means your success, and I want to be a successful person in all the fields I have been involved in.

Part of the 40 million euros (paid by saudi companies) is used to pay for the Super Cup teams, and the other part is used to fund small and medium-sized clubs. The Italian Super Cup has also been played in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudis paid the Italian Football Federation 7 million euros. But we changed the format to make the Spanish Super Cup two semi-finals plus one final, so the Saudis were willing to pay 40 million euros.

When the recording of Florentino's phone call was exposed, you were very active and reminded everyone everywhere to talk about it. Now, you complain that the media has exposed your phone recordings, is that a bit inconsistent?

I'm not complaining about The Secret now. If The Secret had mastered the recording, it would have naturally come to light. I had only encouraged The Secret to make the recording of Florentino's phone call public, but the Secret did not agree. Now, we at Kosmos object to the publication of recordings related to us.

- Who do you think leaked these recordings?

I won't say who leaked the recordings, because the judiciary will lock in the target after the investigation. It is also possible that it was leaked by a reporter.

- The division of each team

The division of the teams is not my decision. It took many discussions to agree on how much each club should get. Now I want to tell you that I think there should have been a better way to decide how to divide it.

Do you think this is against Pique?

I don't think anyone is targeting me. They were just investigating the FA president and then they found the recordings. If there is a theft of telephone recordings, it is also the theft of the telephone recordings of Chairman Rubiales. This is, of course, sensational. It is certainly not uncommon for active athletes to be involved in such a business. But that's also because athletes don't do much of this kind of business. I'm happy, and I'm having a great time.

If there is no problem with all this, why didn't you tell the outside world in the first place?

There are many agreements in the world that will not be made public and do not need to be explained. The reason why I stand up now is because of the social repercussions it has. I believe that President Rubiales had already revealed the specific figures to the Spanish Football Federation Assembly at that time, which was also approved by the Football Association Assembly. There is nothing outrageous about this.

You see, this year's Copa del Rey final will be held in Seville, but no one is going to explain why this year's final is going to be in Sevilla? So I don't understand why there will be such a big social repercussion three years after [the Super Cup decided to move to Saudi Arabia]. Everything we do is in accordance with the rules.

(Deep in the ocean)