Barcelona begins its journey to defend the Spanish Super Cup title when it faces its counterpart, Athletic Bilbao, on Wednesday evening, at Al-Enmaa Stadium in King Abdullah Sports City in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the semi-finals of the 2026 tournament.
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The date of the match between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup
Table of Contents
- The date of the match between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup
- Barcelona has the confidence of the champion and the ambition to maintain the title
- Bilbao is looking for a surprise and a return
- Barcelona wins the Spanish Super Cup
- The new system for the Spanish Super Cup
- The Ismaili Super Cup…a historic financial jump in the tournament’s rewards
Barcelona’s match against Athletic Bilbao will be held on Wednesday evening, January 7, 2026, as part of the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals, and the whistle for the match will sound at exactly nine o’clock in the evening, Cairo time.
Barcelona has the confidence of the champion and the ambition to maintain the title
Barcelona, led by Hansi Flick, is entering the confrontation in high spirits, after tightening its grip on top of the Spanish League following its victory in the Catalunya derby against Espanyol, confirming its readiness to compete for the first title of the new year, which it won in the last edition.
Barcelona is seeking to overcome the “Basque Lions” obstacle and reach the final match, as the winner of this confrontation awaits a possible summit against the winner of the Madrid derby that brings together Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid tomorrow, Thursday, in an anticipated final by all standards.
Bilbao is looking for a surprise and a return
On the other hand, Athletic Bilbao enters the match with great ambition to achieve a surprise and eliminate the La Liga champion, especially after the heavy loss it suffered against Barcelona with a score of 4-0 in the last confrontation between the two teams in the Spanish League last November. Barcelona had strengthened its lead in La Liga after beating Espanyol with a score of 2-0, raising its score to 49 points, while Athletic Bilbao settled for a 1-1 draw with Osasuna in the round. 19, and the Basque team ranks eighth with 24 points.
Barcelona wins the Spanish Super Cup
Barcelona hopes to strengthen its lead in the list of clubs that have won the most Spanish Super Cup titles, after achieving a historic victory over Real Madrid with a score of 5-2 in the final of the last edition, which was held in Saudi Arabia in January 2025. The Catalan team succeeded in winning its fifteenth title in the tournament, surpassing Real Madrid, which has 13 titles.
List of those who won the Spanish Super Cup:
Barcelona: 15 titles
Real Madrid: 13 titles
Athletic Bilbao: 3 titles
Deportivo La Coruña: 3 titles
The new system for the Spanish Super Cup
The Spanish Super Cup has been held since January 2020 with its new system, with the participation of four teams instead of two teams, where the champion and runner-up of the Spanish League participate, along with the champion and runner-up of the King’s Cup, and the tournament is held in a semi-final system and then the final.
Since the implementation of the new system, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been chosen to be the permanent destination to host the tournament, as part of its strategy to host major international sporting events.
The Ismaili Super Cup…a historic financial jump in the tournament’s rewards
The current edition of the Spanish Super Cup witnessed a noticeable financial increase in the value of the prizes, as the total rewards rose to 23 million euros, compared to 19.65 million euros in the previous edition, an increase of 3.35 million euros. In the 2025 edition, Barcelona had received 9 million euros, distributed between 6 million as fixed participation, and 1 million euros after reaching the final, in addition to 2 million euros as a reward for winning the title, in a clear indication of the great growth of the tournament and its marketing value.
