This is how winners leave a playing field: Toni Kroos slowly walks off the field, upright, his hair precisely parted despite a tough 80 minutes. The head turns just slightly to the right and then to the left, hinting at a smile. The crowd at Al Awal Park in Riyadh whistles and boos, but Kroos seems to be enjoying the moment. It’s 4-1 for Real Madrid against FC Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Football Association’s Final Four, and the fourth “Supercopa” for Toni Kroos, the 21st title he won with Real Madrid, can no longer be taken away from him.
Once again he high-fives Luka Modric, his friend with whom he has long shaped the midfield at Real, “the Bermuda Triangle in which the ball disappears,” his coach Carlo Ancelotti once said. A hug and Kroos sits on the bench. Much could be said about the great football on display in the three games of this year’s Spanish Supercopa. But with their whistles against Kroos, the Saudi spectators once again reminded us how problematic the venue is.
Kroos criticizes moves to Saudi Arabia
The Spanish Football Association has been playing its “Supercopa” in Saudi Arabia since 2019. What had until then been a barely noticed game between champions and cup winners was expanded to a Final Four, in which the final opponent of the King’s Cup and the runner-up in the league also took part. For this, the Spanish association receives 40 million euros per season from Saudi Arabia.
The Spanish media is calling the new format a great success. You have to agree with them from a sporting point of view. The encounter between Real and Atlético Madrid and the Clásico between Real and Barcelona with a total of 13 goals were an advertisement for Spanish football. Nobody spared themselves, the “Supercopa” was no longer an annoying event that was held sometimes during the summer break and sometimes during the winter break. Real Madrid were in great form. With Toni Kroos distributing the ball in midfield, who was completely unfazed by the whistles, the team turned a 2:3 into a 5:3 against Atlético. Against FC Barcelona, Kroos then surprised as part of the defense and gave the defensive line security in the build-up to the game.
Game designer: Kroos leads Real even without applause. : Image: AFP
But the great football does not justify Spanish fans having to watch a Spanish Super Cup on television instead of in a stadium in their own country. Above all, it does not justify the association’s silence on the human rights situation. “You can buy a lot with the 40 million euros per season,” said a journalist on the Spanish television station La Sexta. He then recalled the death sentences against dissidents in Saudi Arabia, the flogging of gays and lesbians, and decades-long prison sentences for women who stand up for their rights.
Luis Rubiales, who has since resigned and been banned because of the kissing scandal against a national player, claimed when he presented the deal as league president in 2019 that the Spanish “Supercopa” would improve the situation for women in the country. A country report by Amnesty International from last year presents the situation very differently. The organization also reports on the “largest mass execution in decades” when 81 people were executed on March 12, 2022, and on an intensification of the regime’s actions against Dissenters.
Christian Kamp and Christopher Meltzer Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 9 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 18
Toni and Felix Kroos only touched on the topic of human rights in their podcast “Einfach mal luppen”, which is worth listening to, in August. They had criticized Jordan Henderson’s move from Liverpool FC to Saudi Arabia because of the situation of gays, lesbians and transsexuals there. The vice-captain of the English national team had previously always campaigned for gay rights. The focus of Toni Kroos’ criticism was that younger players who are not yet at the end of their careers are also following the call of petrodollars. But he also said to older players: “I’m happy about anyone who rejects it.” He also had non-binding requests, but he didn’t follow up on them. For all of this, Kroos was whistled every time he touched the ball. First in the semi-final against Atlético, then also in the final.
“You always have to respect people, their customs and their systems,” a seemingly Saudi Arabian user unintentionally said on Respect for a dictatorship. Sport should forget values and worldviews when it accepts money from such regimes. The case of a retired teacher shows what threatens people in Saudi Arabia when they speak like Toni Kroos, when they express their opinions: Last year, a special court sentenced Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi to death for non-violent expressions of opinion on X and YouTube .