Following their Copa del Rey exit at the hands of Athletic Club on Wednesday, Barcelona’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Spanish Super Cup now hang in the balance. They can now only book their place in Saudi Arabia by finishing inside the top two in La Liga, but at this stage, they are seven points behind Real Madrid, and eight adrift of Girona.
As per Marca, Barcelona would miss out on €5m worth of prize money if they fail to qualify for the Super Cup, which given their ongoing financial woes, would be a significant problem. The Catalans need to continue bringing money in so that they can eventually end their money problems, so missing out would be a blow.
Barcelona’s lack of presence in next season’s Super Cup would also be a problem for the Spanish Football Federation. Whatever money is paid out to clubs for their participation in the competition, that exact amount is also given to grassroots football. As the overall amount would be significant less if the Catalans don’t qualify, it would meant that less money would be given this way too.
Barcelona will see it as imperative to get amongst Real Madrid and Girona in the La Liga title race at the end of the season. Anything less than 1st would be a failure, although settling for second would not be the end of the world, at least in a financial sense.
