Supercopa de España Preview
The 2022/23 edition of the Supercopa begins today, with four clubs in Saudi Arabia hoping to win the first domestic title of the season. The winners of LaLiga and the Copa del Rey are joined by the runners-up in those respective competitions in the fourth iteration of the new four-team format.
Real Madrid face Valencia before Betis take on Barcelona for a place in the final on Sunday. For the two heavyweights, there is probably more to be lost than gained, while for Betis and Valencia, it is a golden opportunity to win a trophy in just two matches.
There were precursors, but the Supercopa as it is recognised began in 1982. Liga champions Real Sociedad defeated Copa holders Real Madrid – the first and only title for La Real. From then on, the champions of the league and the cup faced off for the crown.
There are a few anomalies, however. In the earlier days, if a club had won the doblete in the previous season, the Supercopa was not contested. Those clubs were simply awarded the Supercopa, effectively an added-on reward for winning both Liga and Copa. Therefore, in 1984 and 1989, Athletic Club and Real Madrid respectively were declared champions. After this, runners-up from the Copa were invited to take part in the event that a double was won.
Even more curiously, in two consecutive years, there was no competition at all, despite the fact that there were different champions of the league and cup. In 1986, it was Real Madrid and Real Zaragoza, and the following year it was Madrid and La Real. The reason? The clubs could not agree about organising dates for the matches. This bizarre occurrence illustrates the disregard shown to the competition in the earlier years, and may have even been the death knell.
Encouragingly, the competition survived, and began to thrive into the 1990s and beyond. In total there have been 74 Supercopa matches, with El Clásico being the most-played match in the history of the competition: of 15 matches, Los Blancos have won nine to Barça’s four, with two draws. Yes, while the overall balance between these eternal rivals is remarkably close, in the Supercopa there is a heavy skew towards the capital. Indeed, over the eight separate editions in which they have competed, Barça have only prevailed once (2011).
Nonetheless, the Catalan giants are the most successful club in the Supercopa, with 13 titles, the most recent of which came in 2018. This was a unique and historical match. Not only was it the first Supercopa to be played as a single match, it was also the first to be played abroad (Morocco). In the context of LaLiga making noises about games in the United States and given the subsequent RFEF objection, it was ironic that Luis Rubiales took the Supercopa to another continent. Incidentally, a few months later, the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final was moved to Madrid, a top year for matches played out of place.
Real Madrid are in close pursuit of Barça with 12 titles, and they are the current holders. Since the inception of the four-team format and the deal to host the tournament in Saudi Arabia (more on that from Sam Leveridge here), Real Madrid have won on both editions played in the Arab state. Those triumphs came either side of Athletic Club’s victory in Andalucía during the covid-resticted year with limitations on travel and no public attendance permitted. Also known as the Asier Villalibre trumpet year.
As we look towards the latest edition, Valencia and Betis will be aiming to improve on their limited experiences in the mini-comp. Los Verdiblancos have only ever competed once, back in 2005 after their Copa win. They lost heavily in the home leg to Barça (0-3) before winning in vain at Camp Nou.
As for Los Che, they did win in 1999. Following a narrow win at Mestalla, there was a dramatic 3-3 in the second leg at Camp Nou. Valencia equalised three times to preserve their aggregate advantage and claim the trophy. They have since been bridesmaids in 2002, 2004 and 2008, before they became the first club to lose a Supercopa semi-final in 2020.
Facts and Figures
Most wins
As mentioned earlier, the big two lead the way in titles, but ten clubs have the honour of being Supercopa champions at some stage. Athletic Club and Deportivo La Coruña (3 each) are the best of the rest.
13 – Barcelona
12 – Real Madrid
3 – Athletic Club & Deportivo La Coruña
2 – Atlético Madrid
1 – Real Sociedad, Mallorca, Valencia, Real Zaragoza & Sevilla
100%
Dépor and Mallorca have won every edition in which they have competed, three for the Galicians and once for the island side.
Unbeaten
Dépor also hold the prestige of being the only unbeaten side in the history of the competition. In their six matches across three editions, they won five and drew once.
Winless
The other side of the coin falls on sorry Espanyol. While their rivals have the most titles, most match wins and most goals in the tournament’s entirety, the side from Cornellà have lost three of their four matches, drawing the other. They even have the ignominious blank tag, having never scored in the competition.
Most successful coaches
Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola have both won three titles each.
Most successful player
Leo Messi has won eight Supercopa titles, more than any other player. To put it another way, that equates to 62% of Barça’s Supercopas, or 21% of all Supercopas ever contested.
Top scorer
Messi again. He scored 14 in 20 appearances, double the next-highest on the list, Raúl.
Highest-scoring game
Barcelona 4-5 Real Zaragoza. In 1994, Barça took a 2-0 lead back from Aragón but the second leg was anything but comfortable. In a nine-goal thriller, Barça were behind four times but managed to keep the deficit down to a single goal on the night.