The Spanish Super Cup finally goes ahead in Tangier
It's now official: The Spanish Super Cup match will be held in Morocco and it's the first time a showpiece match will be held away from Spanish soil. This is the first experiment in the domestic game but a commonplace practice in "Calcio" where the Italian Super Cup has been played in venues ranging from Washington DC some 25 years ago through to New York, Trípoli, Doha, Peking or Shanghai. The Northern Moroccan city of Tangier also hosted the French Super Cup last season as Monaco faced PSG. Sevilla and FC Barcelona will grace the pitch of the Ibn Battouta stadium on August 12th in a one-off match.
Morocco
I like the decision although am aware it has ruffled some feathers and that many at Sevilla are unhappy about the handling of the affair. This years Super Cup won't be the traditional two-legged contest and the Andalusian club are annoyed as they offered the home leg as part of their 2018/19 season ticket package. They, just like the Catalan side will be paid with one million euro, be allocated 6.000 match tickets and have all expenses paid. The city of Tangier is relatively easy to get to from mainland Spain and is a wonderful city. The love for everything related to Spanish football is palpable not just in the city of Tangier but all over Morocco. Given the complexity of finding two dates that mutually suited both clubs was proving impossible so this one off compromise I feel is a good thing.
Groundhog Day
Sevilla start their 2018/19 Europa League campaign this Thursday and they advocated the dates of August 5th and 12 for the Super Cup games. Barça are involved in the Internacional Champions Cup which made the 5th impossible and proposed August 12 and 19 which was rejected by LaLiga boss Javier Tebas as the domestic campaign is set to start over the weekend of August 18. Another of Sevilla's complaints was the nature of the Barça game that prohibited the 4th/5th was the friendly nature and this in turn saw the Andalusian outfit disappoint their own season ticket holders which there certainly is some truth to. Another year, and once again the usual hassle created about the dates of the Super Cup. A one off game it is to be in the end and I'm already looking forward to the domestic season curtain raiser in Tangier.