How much money did Barcelona make from Maradona Cup?

Barcelona played Boca Juniors on Tuesday 14 December in Saudi Arabia. The game was played at the 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park stadium with the match becoming the first Maradona Cup in honour of the legend that was Diego Armando Maradona, who passed away in 2020.

As it turned out, Barça lost the match, after it ended 1-1 in normal time and the Argentine side ran out winners on penalties.

Barcelona paid over €2 million for Maradona Cup

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Despite the focus being on the tribute to the former superstar player, questions have been asked whether or not the financial troubled Catalan club will profit from the occasion and, according to Spanish daily Mundo Deportivo, they will pocket a little over two million euros (nearing $2.5 million). This comes in lower than the €3 million the club received in May 2018 for playing in Johannesburg against Mamelodi Sundowns. On that occasion it was for the centenary celebrations of Nelson Mandela's birth, also organised by RG Consultant & Sport Solutions.

As per the report, the reason given for the amount being reduced relatively is based on "the current economic situation post-covid,” but the consultancy group has been working with Barça on legends games and similar for a decade. Initially, the plan for the Maradona Cup was to link up Barça and Napoli - coincidentally their Europa League clash was confirmed a day before the friendly was due to take place - but the Italian club, through their president Aurelio de Laurentiis, asked for five million euros as well as the total cost of the trip being covered. That figure wasn’t accepted.

Boca stepped in and the deal was finalised, although it was not possible to hold it on the actual anniversary of Maradona’s passing, 25 November, as Barça were playing Benfica in the Champions League group stage.