Why is the UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atalanta played in Warsaw, Poland?

The 2024 UEFA Super Cup will see Kylian Mbappé make his debut for Real Madrid as the Champions League holders face last season’s Europa League winners Atalanta for the first European trophy of the new season. And it might not have escaped your attention Wednesday’s game is taking place at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, rather than more high-profile venues such as Wembley Stadium in London, or the Stade de France near Paris.

While the fixture offers the chance for silverware and a cash boost at the start of the season, the UEFA Super Cup is generally not right at the top of elite clubs’ priority lists when it comes to trophies they are desperate to get their hands on. Something which is perhaps reflected in the choice of location for the game.

UEFA Super Cup format change

Between 1973 and 1997, the UEFA Super Cup was a two-legged affair, with each of the teams involved playing one match at home. In 1998, UEFA opted to switch the format to a one-off game, played at Stade Louis II in Monaco up until 2012. That stadium had a capacity of less than 20,000, another indicator of the standing of the fixture in the grand scheme of elite-level European soccer.

Since 2013, the Super Cup has moved around but has stayed well clear of the biggest and best-known stadiums, with matches played in Prague (Czechia), Cardiff (Wales), Tbilisi (Georgia), Trondheim (Norway), Skopje (Macedonia), Tallinn (Estonia), Istanbul (Türkiye), Budapest (Hungary), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Helsinki (Finland), Athens (Greece) and now Warsaw.

Why the UEFA Super Cup isn’t played at Wembley or Spotify Camp Nou

UEFA itself has explained the thinking behind their venues of choice. “From 2013, the Super Cup has played an essential role within European football. Since then, the match has been staged each year in different cities across the continent - a move designed to share the prestigious occasion among Europe’s national associations, giving many of them a cherished and unique opportunity to play host to a major international club competition event between two top teams fielding some of the game’s stellar names.”

That said, the National Stadium in Warsaw has a official capacity of 58,000, which means we could see the biggest Super Cup attendance since the change to the single-game format in 1998.

Following the decision to move the game around from 2013 onwards, the best-attended fixture (almost 52,000) saw Barcelona defeat Sevilla in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2015, although fewer than 12,500 people went to the Madrid derby in Tallinn, Estonia in 2018, the lowest figure in non-covid times.