Italian Super Cup to be held in Milan after Saudi plans shelved

MILAN, Nov 11 — This season’s Italian Super Cup is set to be held in Milan next January after Italy’s top flight football league shelved plans to host the showpiece in Saudi Arabia, two sources have told Reuters.

The match, contested by the Serie A champions and winners of the Coppa Italia, was traditionally held at the start of the season but has been played halfway through the campaign in recent years, often in foreign venues.

Saudi Arabia hosted the competition in 2018 and 2019 after signing a deal with the Italian league to hold three of the next five editions in the kingdom although the 2020 edition was held in the Italian city of Reggio Emilia without spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Serie A champions Inter Milan will play Coppa Italia winners Juventus in this season’s Super Cup.

Italian league president Paolo Dal Pino had said in May that the competition would return to Saudi Arabia due to the contract signed in 2018 although two sources told Reuters the match would take place at the San Siro, instead.

Serie A wants to negotiate a new contract with Saudi Arabia to host the Super Cup, but no new deal has yet been agreed.

The Italian league did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — Reuters