Supercopa de España

Supercopa de España

Organising body	Royal Spanish Football Federation
Founded	1982; 42 years ago (1982)
Region	Spain
Number of teams	2 (until 2018) 4 (2019–present)
Current champions	Real Madrid (13th title)
Most successful club(s)	Barcelona (14 titles)
Television broadcasters	List of broadcasters
2023–24 Supercopa de España

The Supercopa de España (Catalan: Supercopa de Espanya), also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of the Copa del Rey and La Liga.^[1]

Until 1995, a team that won both the league and cup automatically got the trophy. From 1996 to 2019, if a team won both, they had to play the cup runners-up for the Supercopa.^[2][3][4] Since its inception, thirteen teams have participated in the tournament, and ten have been crowned champions.

Real Madrid is the current champion after defeating Barcelona in the 2024 edition held in Riyadh.^[5][6][7] Barcelona remains the most successful team with fourteen titles, followed by Real Madrid with thirteen.^[8][9][10] Athletic Club and Deportivo La Coruña each have three titles, with Deportivo notably winning every edition they have participated in.^[11][12][13] Lionel Messi is the competition's all-time top scorer and the most decorated player, with eight titles.^[14][15]

History

The current competition has existed since 1982. Between 1940 and 1953, several other tournaments between the Spanish league champions and the cup winners (then Copa del Generalísimo) were played.^[16][17][18]

In September 1940, a match with this format had the name of Copa de Campeones.^[18] It was not repeated until December 1945 when, due to the good relations with the Spanish military government the ambassador of Argentina, offered a trophy called Copa de Oro Argentina.^[16][18] Both these trophies were unofficial and were only played once.^[16]

In 1941 the Copa Presidente FEF was established as an official tournament founded and organized by the RFEF; however, it was also only contested once, and though 11 of the 12 matches in its mini-league format were played between April and May 1941, its last, decisive fixture was delayed until eventually taking place in September 1947.^[19]

Also in 1947, the Copa Eva Duarte was established as an annual and official tournament founded and organized by the RFEF, as a tribute to Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón and his wife María Eva Duarte de Perón. It was played between September and December, usually as one-match finals. The trophy was the predecessor of the current Supercopa de España, first held in 1982.^[16][18]

In 2018, the Supercopa was played for the first time as a single match hosted at a neutral venue.^[20]

On 12 November 2019, it was announced that the Supercopa would expand to four teams, the winners and runners-up of the Copa del Rey and La Liga, and would be held at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the next three years, in a deal valued at €120 million. The event was also moved to January in order to reduce the "congestion" on teams' schedules.^[1][21] The agreement has faced criticism: Jesus Alvarez, head of sport programming for state broadcaster RTVE, stated that it would not bid for the media rights to the Supercopa, in protest of Saudi Arabia's human and women's rights records—especially in women's sports. Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional president Javier Tebas also criticized the decision, citing the human rights violations and the country's "pirating" of European football (in reference to pirate broadcaster beoutQ).^[22] In the past, Tebas had been a major advocate to hold the competition outside of Spain, and especially the United States, as part of his efforts to expand La Liga globally.^[23] RFEF president Luis Rubiales stated that women would be able to attend the matches without restriction, and defended the agreement as the use of football to "transform society".^[24][25][26]

Neither the Copa del Rey nor La Liga winners reached the Supercopa de España final in the first three editions of the four-team format.^[27] In June 2021, the extension of the agreement with Saudi Arabia for ten years was announced, to continue playing the tournament in the country until at least 2029.^[28][29][30]

Predecessors of Supercopa

Early tournaments

Copa Eva Duarte

* In 1952^[31] and 1953 the cup was awarded to Barcelona, as they had won the La Liga / Copa del Generalísimo double.

Finals by year

Two-team format

Except for the 1983, 1988 and 1992 tournaments, the first leg match was played at the cup winner's stadium.

Four-team format

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Semi-finalists	Venue(s)
2019–20	Real Madrid (2018–19 Liga third place)	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–1 pen.)	Atlético Madrid (2018–19 Liga runners-up)	Valencia (2018–19 Copa)	King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
				Barcelona (2018–19 Liga & 2018–19 Copa runners-up)
2020–21	Athletic Bilbao (2019–20 Copa runners-up)[a]	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Barcelona (2019–20 Liga runners-up)	Real Sociedad (2019–20 Copa)[a]	Estadio Nuevo Arcángel, Córdoba Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga Estadio de La Cartuja, Seville
				Real Madrid (2019–20 Liga)
2021–22	Real Madrid (2020–21 Liga runners-up)	2–0	Athletic Bilbao (2020–21 Copa runners-up)	Barcelona (2020–21 Copa)	King Fahd Sports City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Atlético Madrid (2020–21 Liga)
2022–23	Barcelona (2021–22 Liga runners-up)	3–1	Real Madrid (2021–22 Liga)	Valencia (2021–22 Copa runners-up)	King Fahd Sports City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Real Betis (2021–22 Copa)
2023–24	Real Madrid (2022–23 Copa & 2022–23 Liga runners-up)	4–1	Barcelona (2022–23 Liga)	Atlético Madrid (2022–23 Liga third place)	KSU Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
				Osasuna (2022–23 Copa runners-up)

Titles by club

Titles by club in Supercopa

Titles by club in predecessors of Supercopa

All-time top goalscorers

Bold indicates active players in Spanish football.^[32]

Player	Club(s)	Goals	Apps	Ref.
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	14	20	[33]
Raúl	Real Madrid	7	12	[34]
Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	7	13	[35]
Hristo Stoichkov	Barcelona	6	10	[36]
Txiki Begiristain	Real Sociedad, Barcelona, Deportivo La Coruña	6	12	[37]
Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla	5	2	[38]
Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao	4	2	[39]
Robert Lewandowski	Barcelona	4	4	[40]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	4	7	[41]
Vinícius Júnior	Real Madrid	4	7	[42]
José Mari Bakero	Real Sociedad, Barcelona	4	11	[43]
Xavi	Barcelona	4	14	[44]

Individual records

• All-time top scorer: Lionel Messi (14 goals)^[33]
• Most finals scored in: Lionel Messi (7)^[33]
• Most consecutive finals scored in: Lionel Messi (4, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
• Most goals in a two-legged final (4):
  • Aritz Aduriz (2015)
• Most goals in a single final game (3):
  • Francisco Higuera (1994)
  • Raúl (2001)
  • Frédéric Kanouté (2007)
  • Lionel Messi (2010)
  • Aritz Aduriz (2015)
  • Vinícius Júnior (2024)

See also

• Football in Spain

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Supercopa de España.

• The predecessor of the current Supercopa de España