Barcelona legend responds to Saudi cash scandal
FC Barcelona icon Gerard Pique defended himself on Monday evening by fielding questions from journalists in relation to leaked audios that saw him discussing how money from Saudi Arabia would be split between clubs for taking the Spanish Super Cup there.
The Spanish Super Cup was held in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2020 after a 10-year deal was signed for hosting rights with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in 2019.
Pique's influence in the deal through his company Kosmos – allegedly set to pocket €4 million ($4.3 million) per edition for the first six years of the contract – was reported on by Spanish media at the time, but the extent of how the veteran defender seemingly plotted with RFEF president Luis Rubiales to take the competition away from Spain was only made public via a report from El Confidencial, which also released damning audios.
The clips show Pique, who also suggested the current four-team format, discussing how €40 million ($43 million) per year would be split between Barca and bitter rivals Real Madrid plus the tournament's other outfits and the federation.
Yet in a Twitch session that began around midnight in Spain, shortly after Barca lost 1-0 to Cadiz at Camp Nou and pretty much ended their title ambitions, Pique denied he had done any wrong and that there was any conflict of interest.
"I do not regret it, I think we have done a very good job. We have done a great job and I don't think we have done anything wrong either legally or morally," Pique defiantly stated, while also accepting that though someone else could have been in charge of the negotiations, his relationship with the president meant that "it should have been me" who got the deal over the line with the Saudis.
"We are in a culture in which it is always thought that there is a hidden agenda," Pique began when asked if he thought there was a conflict of interest that could influence the outcome of matches to have Barca and Real Madrid in the Super Cup.
Documents and Audio clips have revealed that The Royal Spanish Federation (RFEF) agreed with the company Kosmos, founded by Gerard Piqué to collect a millionaire commission for bringing the Spanish Football Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. [el confidencial] pic.twitter.com/v51rE3dhb4
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) April 18, 2022
"Just because 100,000 people or 1,000 people do it doesn't mean that everybody does it. Do you think that because of an agreement like this the president of the RFEF is going to say something to a referee?" Pique asked.
"Against Real Sociedad B, [for] Andorra [which Kosmos bought in 2018], we were eliminated with nine men and a penalty. The president has to fight to generate as much money as possible. If he succeeds, he deserves it. That happens in any company. I'm not going to give up something I enjoy doing. I have never stopped doing something because of what people say. I know what I've done," Pique stressed.
"I do not set the prices," Pique protested, when asked about the split of cash which in the audio he suggested as €8 million ($8.6 million) each for Barcelona and Real Madrid, "two and one" million for the other two teams, and €6 million ($6.5 million) for the federation.
"I came from several conversations in which I knew the percentage that could be given to each club. I try to make him see that the idea I have is that it can be done in another way."
"What is the conflict of interest?" Pique asked, when it was put to him whether he considered it moral to negotiate directly with the Saudis and establish the fees.
"The fees [are in] an audio taken out of context, they are decided by the RFEF and I only help them to look for a formula that makes sense to them. That is 100% a RFEF decision. I am simply trying to help him. What more conflict can there be?"
"A commercial issue has nothing to do with an issue on the field. I bring an opportunity to the RFEF. They go from taking €120,000 ($129,000) to €40 million. Are the referees going to whistle better?" Pique scoffed, while claiming that the 10% commission Kosmos receives is "relatively low".
On why the figures were concealed if everything happened as naturally as Pique alleges, the 35-year-old noted that there are "many agreements that are closed and not explained".
"I am here because of the commotion. I believe that in the RFEF Assembly the president exposes the numbers and there is the approval. It is not that anything was done on the sly. It went through the steps it was supposed to. The final of the Copa del Rey is in Seville and it is not explained. But in 2019 the news came out, people knew about it. That's why I don't understand the commotion three years later. It went through all the procedures," said Pique.
Raised in an affluent area of Barcelona while progressing through Barca's famed La Masia academy to enjoy a near two-decade career in elite football, Pique insists that he "didn't get into it for the money" as per his Saudi dealings.
"I could spend my whole life lying on a couch doing nothing," he said. "In this society making money means success and I like to be successful in everything I do. With this €40 million you a pay a lot to those involved, but also to many clubs below".
Pique's Twitch Q&A session finished well past one in the morning in Spain, but just a few hours later freshly released audios revealed how Pique was seemingly prepared to use childhood friend and former teammate Lionel Messi to see his and Rubiales' plans realized.
As the pair tried to convince decision-makers to move the Super Cup from August to January, Pique and Rubiales persuaded Messi to send a video showing support for the Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE) to its president David Aganzo as the group had a feud with rival organization Futbolistas ON.
"I think that someone, we have to think of someone other than you, so that it is not linked to you, should talk to David Aganzo and tell him 'Hey man, this has to happen, this is good," Rubiales said in the leaked audio from April 10, 2019.
"We don't want to play the first two rounds of the Copa del Rey. It's good for us.' Whatever. Think about how in what way and who could call David from Barcelona, even from Real Madrid. But, of course, we can't make a mistake here, because if we say it to someone and they don't want to... We're going to think about it and think it through, because maybe tomorrow someone might give David Aganzo a call? Tomorrow or at the weekend or on Monday, okay? A hug, man," Rubiales signed off.
Replying on the same day, Pique said he thought the idea was "good", because Aganzo had been asking him "for days" for a video supporting the AFE in their fight against Futbolistas ON and "the other association" that La Liga president and Rubiales' arch nemesis Javier Tebas was setting up.
"So, I could say to him, 'Man, listen, go ahead with the Federation's calendar and so on... and I'll send you the video. Now I'll send you the video', with the excuse, you know?
"And I'll send him the video and I'll say, 'Listen, let's go ahead with the Federation, it's f***ing great.' I don't know what... Let's see what he says. And we have Leo [Messi] with us as well, he's going to send him a video and everything, so from Barcelona we could say it is a message from all the captains," Pique put forward, while again receiving approval from Rubiales.
Currently out injured, Pique is facing a race to be fit for Thursday's match away at Real Sociedad where he could expect a frosty reception from the home support in the Basque region in his first appearance since the scandal broke.
