The new Supercoppa Italiana format will get underway today, but the amount of interest that it is getting in Saudi Arabia has been dampened by the absence of Italy’s two biggest clubs.
The 2024 Supercoppa will officially kick off today, with Inter fighting to defend their crown against Lazio, Fiorentina and Napoli in the four-team format that has taken over from the previous one.
As reported by Repubblica (via Calciomercato.com), yesterday – on the eve of the first semi-final – the Saudi population including journalists and fans present asked their Italian colleagues why two teams like Fiorentina and Lazio had been sent to Riyadh ‘instead of of Juventus and Milan’.
It then fell to the CEO of Serie A, Luigi De Siervo, to explain in a press conference that this is the formula for the Supercoppa, then ensuring that this evening’s match ‘between Napoli and Fiorentina will be a beautiful match’.
It is a tournament which, all things considered, dissatisfies almost everyone. Whoever wins the cup will collect €8m, while the other finalist will get €5m and even the two defeated semi-finalists will receive €1.5m.
The rest of the income derived from the €24m agreement will be shared between Lega Calcio and all the other clubs. Essentially, with only three games to play, this competition will earn Italian clubs more than the entire Coppa Italia.
The lack of interest given the absence of Milan and Juve – have huge followings in the Middle East – may well be reflected in the attendances. There was even talk of Fiorentina and Napoli pulling out due to anger at the dates.
Looking at the programme for the future, four of the next six Supercoppa tournaments will be in Saudi Arabia by contract, but even in the two that are not it is expected to be somewhere else abroad.
