- Piqué is under investigation over a claim his company illegally received £34m
- Kosmos and the Spanish Federation reached an agreement to move the Super Cup to Saudi Arabia
- The job at Plymouth will be what makes or breaks Wayne Rooney’s managerial career. Listen to the podcast It’s All Beginning
Gerard Pique has been placed under investigation after being accused of illegally earning £34million to help move the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
Piqué’s company Kosmos received £34m in an agreement with the Spanish Football Federation to negotiate the move, which has seen four of the last five finals played in Saudi Arabia.
Spanish judge Delia Rodrigo said there were “possible illegalities with criminal implications” in the agreement.
Former Barcelona star Piqué has always denied any illegality, but is now part of a group of people under official investigation.
The case has been investigated since 2022, when audio recordings between Piqué and the then president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, were leaked.
Gerard Piqué is under investigation over allegations he illegally received £34m
His company, Cosmos, received £34m in a deal to move the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia.
The agreement between Piqué and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) was initially negotiated in 2020, for which Cosmos received £3.4 million, but its extension in 2020 saw that figure multiply.
The Spanish Football Federation has received £340m to move the Spanish Super Cup, a tournament that dates back to 1982.
Next year’s final will be held again in Riyadh. It has been held there or in Jeddah every year since 2020, except in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rubiales was arrested in April after returning to Spain from the Dominican Republic.
He was taken to a police station and served with a court summons as part of the ongoing corruption investigation related to his time as head of the Spanish Football Federation.
The investigation is unrelated to the ‘Kissgate’ investigation in which he is involved.
In March, prosecutors involved in that case said they were seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the “unwanted” kiss Rubiales gave soccer player Jenni Hermoso after the Spanish women’s team’s victory over England last August. .
In an indictment sent to Madrid-based Judge Francisco de Jorge, they said they wanted him imprisoned for a year if convicted in the sexual assault trial and another year and a half for coercion related to his alleged attempts to capture to the footballer. to speak in his defense after his victory at the 2023 World Cup.
A judge affirms that there were possible illegalities with criminal implications in the operation between Piqué’s Kosmos company and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF)
The former president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, was arrested in April in connection with the deal, unrelated to the ‘Kissgate’ investigation.
Around the same time, Spanish prosecutors called for Rubiales to be arrested for alleged financial irregularities while he was in charge of the Spanish Football Federation.
Rubiales’ home in the southern Spanish city of Granada was one of several properties searched on March 20, but it was already in the Caribbean.
