Although some of the information was already known, the publication of the conversations between Gerard Piquéat the head of the Kosmos company, and the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, provide some significant details in relation to the RFEF contract with the public company Sela of Saudi Arabia. This document, which already came to light in 2019, stipulates the celebration of the Spanish Soccer Super Cup for six editions, starting in 2020, in the Saudi kingdom, in exchange for 40 million euros for each edition, with a commission of 10% (4 million) for the footballer’s company. Both Rubiales (“it is an exemplary agreement”) and Piqué (“nothing wrong has been done, morally or legally”) have defended the legality of the operation and of the commissions received, something that, in principle, is beyond doubt, although it raises questions of all kinds (especially ethical) when both have wanted to emphasize that holding an event of such magnitude is not only not a justification for dictatorial regime but a possibility of advancing in the fight for human rights.
It is, plain and simple, a business in which profits are generated between the participating clubs, the federation and Piqué’s company, Kosmos, at the expense of a propaganda maneuver by the Gulf monarchies who see, in football, a showcase to whiten its international image, as is also intended with the World Cup in Qatar.
Gerard Piqué, a peculiar athlete who is very astute in the world of entrepreneurs, has been in the news for various business actions, from the renewal of the Davis Cup to the production of such controversial documentaries as Griezmann’s, the purchase of Andorra, the World of hot air balloons or adventures in the field of ‘e-sports’, but this time it makes an incursion into a field that can be directly described as conflict of interests. Leaving aside the fact of establishing business with regimes such as the Saudi one, that he is an active footballer, a participant in one of the teams in the competition that he himself, as an entrepreneur, designs and produces, so to speak, generates a conflict of interest morally difficult to defend. A ‘bad praxis’ that would remain confined to the field of opinions on ethical reasons, but which now also raises a singular debate between the fact that become judge and part of the same causethat is, between being the businessman who promotes a tournament in which he also takes part as a protagonist.
The familiarity of the tone of the conversations and anecdotes such as the fact that Piqué asked Rubiales for help to enter the selection for the Tokyo Olympics make the matter oscillate between the comedy of customs, the high-level picaresque and the outburst to which The Barça central defender has accustomed us, always willing to combine business and sporting matters, without hesitation. And it is a good reason for reflection to see how far football has become a business, beyond the interests of ordinary fans.