Barcelona and Real Madrid will have the chance to battle it out for the season’s first piece of silverware in the Spanish Super Cup final this January in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

For the second year running, the four-team tournament which serves as the expanded iteration of England’s Community Shield, will be held in the Middle East.

The lucrative process that saw the competition moved to Saudi Arabia in 2019—under the guidance of disgraced former Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales who was allegedly aided by retired Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué—is currently under investigation for corruption. Both Rubiales and Piqué deny any wrongdoing.

This year’s tournament will follow the same format as 2025, when Barcelona romped to a 5–2 victory over Real Madrid in the final. Once again, the eternal rivals have conveniently landed on opposite sides of the mini-bracket to give the organizers a chance of hosting a Clásico final.

This bloated version of the Super Cup—which used to be a straight shootout between last season’s La Liga and Copa del Rey winners at the start of each campaign—theoretically pits the league’s winners and runners-up against the two sides which finished in the final of the cup. As Madrid lost out to Barcelona in both competitions, the teams that finished third (Atlético Madrid) and fourth (Athletic Club) have been brought in to make up the numbers.

Barcelona will have to navigate a one-legged tie against Athletic before coming up against the winner of the Madrid derby in the other semifinal. To ensure that there is no moaning about unfair schedules—and an excuse for another money-spinning piece of admin—there will be a draw to decide the order in which the semifinals are played.

Every match will be held at the same venue, the Alinma Stadium which typically hosts league matches contested by Karim Benzema’s Al Ittihad and an Al Ahli team boasting Ivan Toney, Riyad Mahrez and former Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessié.