The Spanish Super Cup returns to Jeddah this week as four of Spain’s biggest clubs converge on Saudi Arabia to contest the first major piece of club silverware of the 2026 global football calendar.
FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao will compete in the three-match tournament at Alinma Stadium, with semi-finals on 7 and 8 January and the final on Sunday 11 January 2026.
Saudi Arabia hosts the Spanish Super Cup for the sixth time, underlining the Kingdom’s growing role at the heart of the international football calendar. Jeddah stages the tournament for the third occasion, following previous editions shared with the capital Riyadh, as the Kingdom continues to establish itself as a premier destination for elite global sport.
The event takes place just months after Saudi Arabia was officially confirmed by FIFA as host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, a landmark moment that further elevates the significance of this year’s Spanish Super Cup as top international clubs and players compete on Saudi soil.
The return of the competition also reflects the wider rise of the Middle East as a central hub for world football, following the highly successful FIFA World Cup hosted by Qatar in 2022 and a growing calendar of elite international tournaments across the region.
Real Madrid and Barcelona, in particular, boast vast and deeply established fan bases across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East, making the Spanish Super Cup a natural fit for audiences who follow La Liga week in, week out.
The four clubs qualified through domestic success during the 2024-25 Spanish season, with Barcelona and Real Madrid finishing first and second in La Liga respectively, while Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao completed the line-up as third and fourth-placed finishers.
Barcelona arrive in Jeddah as defending Super Cup champions after lifting the trophy in emphatic fashion last year with a 5-2 victory over Real Madrid, reinforcing their status at the summit of Spanish football.
The tournament provides a high-profile early-season benchmark as Spanish football resumes following the winter pause, while also offering fans in Saudi Arabia the opportunity to experience elite European competition first-hand.
Beyond the pitch, the Spanish Super Cup forms part of Saudi Arabia’s broader sporting transformation. Home to a population of 35 million people, with 70 per cent under the age of 35, the Kingdom has seen weekly sports participation rise from 13 per cent in 2015 to around 50 per cent, alongside a 150 per cent increase in women’s sports participation since 2018.
Since that time, Saudi Arabia has hosted more than 150 international sporting events, welcoming over 2.6 million international visitors, with its long-term calendar continuing to build momentum ahead of hosting the AFC Asian Cup in 2027 and the FIFA World Cup in 2034.
Spanish Super Cup fixtures:
• Semi-final 1: FC Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao – Wednesday, 7 January
• Semi-final 2: Atlético Madrid v Real Madrid – Thursday, 8 January
• Final: Sunday, 11 January
