The Dakar Rally and the Spanish Super Cup met on Tuesday in Riyadh, 6,700 kilometers from Dakar and 5,000 from Madrid.
The motorized caravan got up early to start its ninth stage towards Haradh, shortly after Real Madrid and Valencia, who play the first semifinal this Wednesday (8:00 p.m., Movistar), settled in the Saudi capital, where Betis was also already and where Barcelona arrived this Tuesday, rivals tomorrow in the second.
They all congregated less than 500 kilometers from Doha, where the World Cup in Qatar closed three weeks ago, a country in which international organizations point out similar deficiencies in terms of the rights of women, the LGTBI community and immigrant workers.
When Cristiano Ronaldo also moved to Riyadh on 30 December to sign for Al Nassr, Amnesty International recalled its concern about the sporting excitement in the area: "It fits into a broader pattern by Saudi Arabia of trying to clean up its image through of sport,” said Dana Ahmed, the NGO's Middle East researcher.
"Ronaldo should use his considerable public platform to draw attention to the country's human rights issues."
The Super Cup, which is being played for the third time in Saudi Arabia as part of a contract with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for six editions, was seen from the beginning under similar questioning by these same organizations.
The body chaired by Luis Rubiales has argued that the presence of the tournament has contributed to some progress in this field: in the 2020 edition, women mixed with men for the first time in the stands (although only in those three games) and in 2021 the women's league was launched in the country with advice from the RFEF.
Amnesty International has insisted that the Super Cup be used more to promote social initiatives, and last year unsuccessfully called for teams to wear purple armbands for the rights of women and homosexuals.
Doubts about the Arabian Super Cup have also affected the procedure for his transfer, in which ex-soccer player Gerard Piqué participated when he was still active.
This edition, for which his company, Kosmos, will also pocket four million euros as every year, will be the first in which he does not play.
It is also the first to be disputed under the magnifying glass of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
Since May, an investigation has been open into the negotiations between Rubiales and Piqué to take the tournament to Arabia, after El Confidencial published several audios that had crossed paths, in which they dealt with a business that in each edition reports 40 million to the RFEF and four to Piqué.
One of the most controversial aspects is that the president of the federation negotiated with an active footballer about a competition in which he was participating.
In an interview with EL PAÍS last October, Rubiales explained that the amount of the operation weighed more: "I think an ethical conflict would be if we received an offer of 40 million euros per season and say no because the company that brings it , Kosmos, is owned by Piqué”.
In any case, the Super Cup brings together three of the top four in the League from this Wednesday.
A Barcelona that became the leader alone after defeating Atlético in the Metropolitan despite losing control of the game.
A Real Madrid that lost step with a Villarreal that exploited its defensive problems, and that has lost Alaba and Tchouameni in the last few hours due to injury.
A Betis that arrives launched with the good moment of Luiz Henrique and a second unit that hides well the lower tone of Canales, Fekir and Borja Iglesias.
And a Valencia in which Gattuso fails to stop the downhill, with injuries and no signings.
Soccer promises, in a distant Super Cup and under the scrutiny of the prosecution and human rights defenders, who recognize timid progress since the country decided in 2019 that it wanted to open up to international tourism.
Since then, for example, the obligation for women to wear the abaya, a loose, loose-fitting dress similar to a robe, has been lifted.
The country, which according to the Saudi Tourism Authority receives almost 30 million foreign visitors a year, has proposed reaching 55 million in 2030, when it wants to opt to host the World Cup, for which it will compete with the Iberian candidacy promoted by Rubiales.
The temperatures are kinder than in Qatar.
The semifinals will be played at about 11 degrees.
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