The ugly dodgy dealing of Piqué and Rubiales

El Confidencial’s hunt for Rubiales and Piqué is noteworthy. We can say whatever we like about the fact that the Super Cup is being played in Saudi Arabia (I think the new format improves the competition, as I have written about on several occasions, and that football is not the only deal between Spain and that country), but how it all came to be is deeply wrong.

It was said that Piqué had acted as an intermediary and it was even looked upon indulgently, as part of the very personal portrait of this multifaceted figure who combines those of player, businessman, presidential candidate, owner of Andorra, teenage friend of Ibai Llanos... But this...

Piqué answers questions from the media on Twitch (in Spanish):

Piqué and his close relationship with President Rubiales

The crude reading of these communications is abhorrent. The way in which he and Rubiales divide the money between Madrid, Barça and the Federation, leaving whatever is left over for the others, is honestly disgusting. As are the guarantees he demands from the Federation to collect the commission directly. Not to mention, for once, that the very tone of the dodgy dealings between the president of the Federation and an active footballer are disgraceful.

How do the referees feel about this player, so close to the big boss? And then, as a backdrop to all this, there is the strange ease with which he was able to take the league place of the now defunct Reus Deportivo for his club Andorra.

The murky world of dodgy deals

In short, it’s another example of the murky world where profiteers move in the shadows and where easy money flows, always through the hands of a good contact, be it Urdangarín, Medina or Rubiales. They’re more than useful fools, because they take their own slice. Rubiales pay is linked to the Federation’s revenue, so something was to be gained here.

These things happen everywhere, but it hurts more in football because sport was born for the development of the physical and moral conditions of the species, not for these things. Oh, and we’ve heard Piqué say before that ‘business’ is done in the Real Madrid presidential box. Maybe, yes, but it’s clear that it’s not the only place…