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Efforts to make the Supercopa de Espana more “inclusive” and “better for all Spanish football” by including the runners-up of LaLiga and the Copa del Rey… have led to Real Madrid and Barcelona re-entering the first cup of the season in Saudi Arabia.
The extended Supercopa, which started in 2020, got off to a rocky start for organizers when the Clasico teams could not meet in the final until 2023. In the first three seasons of the reorganized tournament. under the watch of Luis Rubialesthe only time Barcelona and Real Madrid played in the semi-finals was the 2022 edition.
But this big oversight was quickly rectified. For the fourth consecutive season, Madrid and Barca met in the final at the Alinma Bank Stadium in Jeddah, where the Blaugrana won their second Clasico of the season and their 16th Supercopa title.
Like Marca’s Sunday morning portada pointed out, the winner of the Super Cup since 2020 has been winning the league (not including Athletic’s victory in 2021, as that edition was held in Spain). This is a useful window into the importance of the Supercopa now, as Athletic are the only non-Clasico team to have won the trophy in the last 11 years. It’s just a measuring stick for Barca and Madrid, the only thing that needs to be known.
(However, rewind a bit and you’ll see that one Clasico team or another has won LaLiga 35 times in the last 41 years. This season will undoubtedly make it 36 out of 42.)
The Supercopa has existed in various forms since 1940. It entered the Copa Eva Duarte between 1947 and 1953 before being suspended until 1982. That year, reigning league champions Real Sociedad beat Copa del Rey winners Madrid 4-1 over a two-legged tie. Athletic won by default in 1984 after winning the league cup twice; between 1995 and 2004, Deportivo La Coruna won it three times, a period that also included wins over Mallorca, Valencia and Zaragoza.
Now however, the Supercopa is no more than a Chest paina bad joke, almost a ‘no-go’ topic for non-Clasico clubs as Barca and Real Madrid have combined their powers during Javier Tebas’ financial reign.
Like, don’t you see how annoying this is? Tell me that this was not preordained or predetermined.
The SuperFinal.
The SuperClásico.
SuperDomingo.#iSupercopa pic.twitter.com/tthHAFk4Uy– RFEF (@rfef) January 10, 2026
With this in mind, I have a strong proposal for the RFEF and its president Rafael Louzan: the Supercopa de Espana should change again.
It’s time to end that strange illusion of “fairness” and “equal competition” that they have spread since the Supercopa expansion. It is an insult to Atletico Madrid and Athletic Club, two historic institutions, earning less than 3 million euros in total where Real Madrid alone will take home twice as much. Athletic had no chance in their 5-0 semi-final defeat by Barca; Atletico played well, in a losing game, against Real Madrid, but Los Blancos scored the first goal a free kick awarded without a doubt that put them on track within 76 seconds.
No, instead, this is what I think should happen, to save everyone, fans from all other sides in LaLiga, time and travel costs (if applicable): Just have Real Madrid and Barcelona compete for the Supercup every season. All the fun they can handle, no expenses spared – and no other parties invited.
Barcelona’s dominance in the Supercopa final continues as they have won three of their last four against Real Madrid 🔵🔴🔥 pic.twitter.com/4SRSHmLMXy
– OneFootball (@OneFootball) January 11, 2026
Catch it in Qatar next January, and every January forever. Perhaps a change of name is in order, which really captures the exhibition nature of this program, just a six-hour flight from Madrid. We’ll call it ClasiCopa.
Sunday’s final, which was impressive 3-2, can be considered the first edition. It has three goals scored in the first half. It featured Raphinha’s match-winning brace. The intensity was palpable: a combined 28 shot attempts, six yellow cards, Frenkie de Jong’s controversial late red, Kylian Mbappe’s surprise second-half appearance from the bench, and Joan Garcia’s last-minute save on the line to preserve the trophy.
Who’s going to complain if that happens every year? No one is left, and the Clasico sides certainly won’t! One of them gets €8 million for winning this “tournament”; both will take home at least €6m! Money is pocket change for them, but – because of an example or three – it will change Getafe, Sevilla or Valencia institutionally.
See, there are two leagues within La Liga: one for the survival of the many, and one for the survival of the precious few. I gave the reason that the Federation should not openly admit the retrograde, ingrained feeling it has that the two Clasico clubs are the most powerful, the most intelligent, the highest of all – in addition to being the biggest money makers in a league where half of the teams are within five points of relegation, and where there are many possibilities. that they will lose the fifth place in the Champions League in 2026/27!
Louzan and company certainly loved the game that was made after Mbappe’s discovery in the final and his mysterious “may or may not” flight to Saudi Arabia. Why don’t they rely more on the spectacle for the sake of viewing, and the bogus associated game that they dress up as a ‘virtual’ four-a-side tournament?
After all, this is the climate created by Spanish football, over the years of calling itself ‘the league of Barcelona and Real Madrid.’ Responsible people might as well be happy about it without fear of reprisal – and without demeaning us all by painting the Supercopa as something it’s not.
