Little more than a month has passed since 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, on which occasion the Serie A football league had invited players to take to the pitch with a red mark on their face, to "show a red card to violence against women". "The world of football must raise awareness against these phenomena – Serie A president Gaetano Micciché had commented – because it has a very significant role to play in making its contribution." Today that symbolic initiative seems as hollow and fragile as a shed skin: the football league has in fact decided to hold the Italian Super Cup in a country that currently denies women some basic rights, Saudi Arabia.

Public opposition

The decision has naturally sparked widespread controversy and opposition from human rights defenders, particularly abroad, who also recall the recent murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, killed last October in Turkey, possibly at the behest (moral instigation) of Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia has also, since 2015, been waging a ruthless proxy war against Yemen with an extremely high number of civilian casualties.

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The controversy over tickets

In Saudi Arabia, women are currently denied some basic human rights: in judicial proceedings, for example, a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man's, and women cannot travel freely or undergo surgery without the approval of a male relative. For the match between Juventus and Milan, which will be played on 16 January in the city of Jeddah, tickets reserved for women will be a small minority, and in any case they will only be able to watch the match from peripheral sections of the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. Tickets have been divided into two categories, "Singles" and "Families": the former are reserved for men only, while the latter are open to both men and women. The president of the Serie A football league has, however, assured that "women will be able to enter the match alone without any male companion, contrary to what has been incorrectly written by those who wish to exploit the issue."

Vittorio di Trapani @vditrapani

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Ecco il comunicato ufficiale della @SerieA per la vendita dei biglietti della #Supercoppa in #ArabiaSaudita.
@SerieA prova vergogna nell'accettare che esistano settori dello stadio "riservati agli uomini"?
Per 7mln€ la @SerieA accetta regole contrarie alla nostra #Costituzione

♥ 763💬 93 2 gen 2019 · Apri su X →

Why the match is being played in Saudi Arabia

In light of these events, which damage the image of a major sporting occasion, why did the league decide to play the match in Saudi Arabia of all places? The answer is rather simple and predictable: for money. The Arab nation has in fact signed an annual agreement with the football league, with an option for the following two seasons, for a total of 20 million euros.

Relations between Italy and Saudi Arabia

The ties between the two countries go beyond football and, precisely for this reason, many believe that the well-founded controversies surrounding the Italian Super Cup are not enough on their own to sever this relationship. Italy does in fact sell military supplies to Saudi Arabia that would be used, among other things, in the conflict in Yemen where, according to Amnesty International Italia, Oxfam Italia and Medici Senza Frontiere, serious violations of human rights are taking place. It is undoubtedly a lucrative deal: according to the New York Times investigation "Italian bombs, Yemeni deaths", the sale of armaments earned our country, in 2016 alone, 440 million euros. So lucrative that, perhaps, the consistency of Serie A can be pushed into the background.