Real Madrid and Barcelona are blocking an idea, agreed by all other 18 La Liga clubs, to play the Spanish Supercopa in China from next season, Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has said.
The presidents of all 20 La Liga clubs met in Madrid on Monday to discuss a proposal, put forward by the Spanish FA (RFEF), to play five of the next seven season-opening clashes in China.
Madrid’s Florentino Pérez and Barcelona’s Sandro Rosell were the only two to disagree with the idea, which the others see as a useful way of raising badly-needed funds.
“They gave their case and we gave ours,” Cerezo said. “We are interested in playing in China and Real Madrid and Barca are not. For us it is an economic question, and we would earn a lot more money playing there.”
Cerezo said it was an issue that Spanish fans would not be able to attend the games, but stressed that the benefits on offer outweighed this.
“That is the only problem there could be, but for us it is very clear and very important to be able to play in China,” he said. “The Federation will take the decision that it has to take and we will accept it.”
On June 1 last year, the RFEF announced that it had signed an agreement with marketing agency United Vansen International Sport for the game to be played at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing pending the agreement of the clubs and the federation’s general assembly.
The venue for the Supercopa would be of particular interest to Madrid and Barcelona, who have shared the last seven trophies between them and played each other over two legs to decide the title in 2011 and 2012.
La Liga’s big two have a lot of power when decisions are being made in Spanish football, and have successfully blocked attempts by Atletico and other clubs to share out the TV revenue generated by Primera Division games more equally.
Cerezo conceded that all clubs would need to be in agreement before a decision was made. “Doing things against the wishes of anyone is not good either,” he said.
“I would imagine they will need to be convinced.”
