De Siervo confirms: Supercoppa Italiana ‘won’t be played in Saudi Arabia next year’

Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo has confirmed that the Supercoppa Italiana will not be played in Saudi Arabia next season, but it appears unlikely that the mini-tournament will return to home soil in 2026-27. 

Since the 2018-19 season, the Supercoppa Italiana has been played in Saudi Arabia, once in Jeddah and the rest in Riyadh. That is aside from 2020 and 2021 editions of the tournament, which were held in Italy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Despite this originally being an agreement until 2029, De Siervo has hinted that the Supercoppa might be moved to a different host nation in 2026. 

“Next year, we won’t play in Saudi Arabia,” De Siervo told SportMediaset ahead of the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final between Bologna and Inter on Friday night. 

When asked whether Washington or the United States might be an option for 2026, De Siervo replied: “We have a lot of offers, especially from Asia and the Middle East.” 

De Siervo also spoke briefly on the Milan vs. Como Serie A match, which is due to be played in Perth, Australia after all. 

As the game is unable to be played in San Siro due to a clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the involved parties have sought to play the match as a one-off in Australia instead. 

This has been a complicated bureaucratic process, requiring approval from the governing bodies in Italy, Australia, from UEFA, the AFC and FIFA. There had been suggestions last week that the game might not be played in Australia after all, but Lega Serie A President Ezio Simonelli confirmed on Thursday that the original plan will be stuck to. 

De Siervo, meanwhile, says: “It’s a sacrifice that we ask of our fans, I think they’ve understood it. We need international markets. We are the first to do it, but all the big leagues will play at least one match abroad in the coming years.

“The American leagues have been doing it for some time. The Giro d’Italia will start from Hungary and three out of 21 stages will be raced outside of Italy. We’re talking about 0.25%. It’s a small sacrifice to attract new spectators and to stay among the top four leagues in the world.”