The Spanish FA is criticized for the Saudi Supercup

[ad_1]

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In the face of criticism from human rights groups, the president of the Spanish football federation has defended the return of the Spanish Supercup to Saudi Arabia as Real Madrid prepare to face the Athletic Bilbao in the final on Sunday.

Amnesty International had asked the four teams that went to the mini-tournament to wear armbands to protest against the suppression of women’s rights and attacks on the LGBTQ community in the country. Neither team made it to the semi-finals this week, when Madrid beat Barcelona 3-2 in extra time and Bilbao beat Atlético Madrid 2-1.

FA president Luis Rubiales insisted the decision to bring the new-look version of the Supercopa to the kingdom was both good for the money it brought to Spanish football – around 30 million euros ($34 million) per year until 2029 – and for what he called the small steps he has promoted for Saudi women.

“We were the first to sign a contract which made it compulsory, if they wanted us to organize the Super Cup here, to let women into the stadiums, and they are there, and we helped to build a football league women in Saudi Arabia. “, Rubiales told Cadena SER radio on Thursday evening.

“Ethically, we do a lot here to help the development of women in soccer, which is our commitment. The rest of the political issues go beyond football.

While the women were in King Fahd Stadium for the semi-finals, the crowd was overwhelmingly male.

Radio host Cadena SER Àngels Barceló, whose morning show is followed by almost three million listeners in Spain, called the federation and the clubs hypocrites.

“No regime would pay millions of dollars for someone to come on board to change a regime that has no intention of changing itself,” Barceló said. “Spanish football is tarnished with this competition, as are the teams that participate in it. Afterwards, they will all have more money in the bank, but from now on, don’t let them talk to us about values ​​and fair play.

Amnesty International believes that progress is very limited in exchange for helping the regime to link up with some of the most prestigious clubs in the world. The human rights organization criticized the systematic abuse against gay people and the continued discrimination against women.

“The fact (is) that the Spanish football federation has decided to collaborate in this ‘whitewashing’ of the image of the Saudi authorities,” said Esteban Beltrán, president of Amnesty International in Spain.

“While we have seen progress in the past three years, such as the lifting of the driving ban and the possibility of playing sports for women, including the creation of a women’s football league, unfortunately the well-intentioned remarks of President Rubiales in 2019 (that the Super Cup would help modernize Saudi Arabia) are far from becoming a reality.

Asked for his stance on Amnesty’s call for teams to wear the protest armbands, Rubiales complained that the rights group went public with its campaign days before sending the federation a written request for the purpose of creating an “uproar”.

So far, the only player to have spoken out against the organization of matches in Saudi Arabia is Bilbao striker Rául García. But he focused his criticism on the inability to play in front of his team’s fans. Bilbao’s win over Atlético drew a much smaller crowd than Wednesday’s clásico between Madrid and Barcelona.

The tournament was first played in Saudi Arabia in 2019 just before the pandemic hit. Health and travel restrictions forced the federation to bring it back to Spain last year, with Bilbao beating Madrid and Barcelona to claim the trophy.

Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti is aiming for his maiden title in his second stint in charge of the Spanish league leaders. Ancelotti will be without defender Dani Carvajal, who tested positive for COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia on Friday. In-form striker Vinícius Júnior may be a doubt after a muscle problem necessitated his substitution against Barcelona.

Bilbao will once again be hoping to rely on the Iñaki brothers and Nico Williams in attack and playmaker Iker Muniain.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

[ad_2]