Ex-Barcelona Star Pique Investigated Over Allegations Of Corruption

An official inquiry into former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique regarding the Saudi Arabian contract for the Spanish Super Cup has been authorised by a Spanish court.

According to The Athletic, an official investigation has been opened into the former La Roja defender’s purported involvement in a transaction that resulted in the Spanish Super Cup being moved to Saudi Arabia. Pique’s business Kosmos established agreements with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to pay it €40 million (£34 million) and grant the RFEF €400 million (£340 million) in exchange for brokering the deal. Now that an official investigation into the alleged violations has begun, the 37-year-old has been formally added to the list of those under investigation.

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Since June 2022, the court has been looking into whether former RFEF president Luis Rubiales committed a crime of ‘improper’ management when the federation decided to shift the event in conjunction with Piqué’s Kosmos business. In March, police informed Rubiales—who has denied any wrongdoing—that he was a suspect in the investigation after he returned from two months in the Dominican Republic on what he characterised as a work vacation. In the corruption investigation, police searched Rubiales’ house and the headquarters of the RFEF in March and detained seven individuals during the search.

Pique participated in the Spanish Super Cup twice for Barcelona in Saudi Arabia; both times, the teams were unable to advance to the championship match. The Catalan team didn’t win the competition until November 2022, following Pique’s abrupt retirement.

Over the past year, the former defender has developed a hobby of Twitch broadcasting, and it is anticipated that he will address the accusation promptly. The background investigations will go on in the interim.