According to the Spanish newspaper el Confidencial Gerard Piqué, player of FC Barcelona, pocketed four million euros from a deal surrounding the Spanish Supercopa.
The format of the Supercopa was changed three years ago to a mini tournament played in Saudi Arabia. Now would be out of publications el Confidencial show that Piqué’s company, Kosmos Holding, was involved in this process of change. In total, this involved a deal of 40 million euros per year, of which ten percent goes to the cash of Kosmos Holding.
The contract concluded with the Saudi company Sela has a duration of six years and is worth a total of 240 million euros. Pique’s company can therefore have an amount of 24 million euros left from the deal, it found el Confidencial from. The newspaper managed to get hold of talks between Piqué and president of the Spanish football association Luis Rubiales.
From these conversations it appeared that Pique was also involved in the distribution of the money among the participating clubs. He proposes to Rubiales to promise Real Madrid and FC Barcelona eight million euros per edition and then one or two million euros would be given to the other two clubs, after which the association would get away with the remaining six million euros.
It remains from the conversation that Pique is prepared to go far for a maximum deal. He proposes to squeeze further the Saudi Arabian contacts: “Maybe we can get it out. We tell them that Real Madrid will not participate if this amount is not on the table. That way we will get some extra.”
El Confidencial
@elconfidencial
This comes in response to an earlier conversation Rubiales had with Real Madrid, in which the club said it was not willing to play abroad for less than eight million euros. The two discuss the best strategy to get everyone there. Rubiales fears Madrid will sell him no.
Finally, on September 15, 2019, Rubiales calls Piqué with the news that the deal has been sealed. The chairman congratulates the FC Barcelona defender: „Geri, congratulations and I am not talking about yesterday’s great game or your goal. I mean it’s already after noon and so the deal with Saudi Arabia has been finalized. A hug and thank you for everything. I’m here for you if you need anything.”
It is not the first time that Piqué and his company have been discredited over the appearance of a conflict of interest. Kosmos Holding previously interfered with the sponsorship deal between Rakuten and FC Barcelona, while Pique has been under contract with the Catalan club for years.
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