Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Spanish Super Cup should be played over one game - Sevilla chief Castro

Sevilla president Pepe Castro says that the current two-legged Spanish Super Cup format should be scrapped in favour of a one-off game.

Most other European countries play their season-openers between the previous campaign's league and cup winners over a single match.

England's Community Shield and Germany's DFL Super Cup recently took place a week before the Premier League and Bundesliga started, while Italy's Supercoppa Italiana has been moved to the winter break and will be played in Dubai.

Since being established in 1982, the Spanish Super Cup has been played on a home-and-away basis.

While this helps the Royal Spanish Football Federation raise revenue from TV rights, it often leads to fixture congestion at the start of the new season, especially when clubs -- such as Sevilla this year -- are also taking part in UEFA's Super Cup.

UEFA rules also mean that competitive games cannot clash with Champions League playoffs, held on most August midweek nights.

As a result, Wednesday's Spanish Super Cup second leg between Barcelona and Sevilla kicks off at 11 p.m. local time, meaning fans leaving the Camp Nou in the early hours of Thursday morning must try and get home with public transport already closed.

With his club having been beaten 2-0 at home by Barca in Sunday's first leg, and now facing an awkward second leg just three days ahead of their La Liga opener at home to Espanyol on Saturday, Sevilla chief Castro said on Cadena Ser that such demands on the competing clubs means a change in the setup should be considered.

"Maybe the Spanish Super Cup should be just one game, like the UEFA Super Cup," Castro said. "It brings a lot of demands during preseason."

Twelve months ago, Barcelona were in a similar situation, when they went to extra-time to defeat Sevilla 5-4 in the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia, and three days later were beaten 4-0 at Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup first leg, having also taken part in preseason exhibition games in the United States that summer.

At the news conference before last Sunday's first leg at the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan, Barca coach Luis Enrique suggested that all those involved should get together and agree a "unified calendar" across all Europe's top leagues, while accepting that such a plan might meet resistance from business interests.

"To unify the calendar on a European level would be basic and fundamental," he said. "But then you bump up against 'Mr. Business' and there is a lot of cash on the line.

"Then maybe you go on a tour and you are missing four or five players for important games. I believe if you unified the calendar there would be less risk of injury for the players, they could rest better, and the spectacle would be better."

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