The 2018 Supercoppa Italiana was the 31st edition of the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

, the Italian football super cup. It was played on 16 January 2019 at

King Abdullah Sports City King Abdullah Sports City (Arabic: مدينة الملك عبدالله الرياضية), also nicknamed The Shining Jewel, in Arabic (al-Jawharaa Al-Moshe'ah) (Arabic: الجوهرة المشعة) or simply The Jewel, in Arabic (al-Jawhara) (A ...

in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With Juventus winning both the

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie ...

championship and the

2017–18 Coppa Italia The 2017–18 Coppa Italia, also known as TIM Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 71st edition of the national cup in Italian football. As a minimum, the winners of the Coppa Italia earn a place in the 2018–19 Europa League and would begin pla ...

, the game was played between Juventus and the 2017–18 Coppa Italia runners-up, Milan. This was the third meeting between the two teams in the Supercoppa Italiana. Juventus won the first meeting in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

in East Rutherford, New Jersey on penalties, and Milan returned the favour, also on penalties in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh c ...

in Qatar. Both teams before the match had a record seven Supercoppa titles. Saudi Arabia became the sixth different country to host a Supercoppa Italiana. Juventus won the match, with the only goal coming from

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...

in the 61st minute, and became the first club to win eight Supercoppa Italiana titles.

Match

Details

, style="width:60%;vertical-align:top", Match rules *90 minutes *30 minutes of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

if necessary *

Penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

if scores still level *Twelve named substitutes, of which up to three may be used.

Controversy

Following the murder of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey in October 2018, activists and humanitarian associations including

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

have appealed to both the finalist teams and

Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ''National Professionals League Serie A''), commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional football competitions in Italy, m ...

for the match not to be played in Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International indicated the event as an attempt to "rebrand" its tarnished image, known as "

sportswashing Sportswashing is a term used to describe the practice of individuals, groups, corporations, or governments using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. A form of propaganda, sportswashing can be accomplished through hosting sport ...

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been Federal Secretary of Italy's Lega Nord ( Northern League) party ...

, the deputy prime minister of Italy, also labelled the decision to play the match in Saudi Arabia as "disgusting" due to laws regarding women attending the match.

Laura Boldrini Laura Boldrini, (; born 28 April 1961) is an Italian politician and former United Nations official, who served as President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy. Previously she served as Spokesperson to the United Nations High Commissioner for ...

stated that "the lords of football should not be allowed to trade women's rights." President of Lega Serie A Gaetano Micciché noted progress compared to a year ago when no women at all were allowed in the stadium. Women will only be allowed in one section of the stadium, which comprises around 15 percent of the 60,000 seats, and will not be allowed to sit elsewhere in the stadium. However, Micciché has defended the decision to host the Supercoppa in Saudi Arabia stating that this will help to promote the Italian game to a worldwide audience. He also said that women in Saudi Arabia are allowed to attend matches since January 2018, adding that women will be able to sit in family area. The Serie A's MENA rightsholder

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN. It has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef ...

condemned the hosting of the Supercoppa in Saudi Arabia in response to the

pirate broadcaster Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that Radio broadcasting, broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are receive ...

BeoutQ beoutQ was a pirate pay television broadcaster that operated in Saudi Arabia between August 2017 and August 2019. The service consisted of ten satellite television channels that carried rebranded feeds of programming from Qatari broadcaster b ...

. beIN Sports had been forced to cease offering its services in Saudi Arabia due to the

Qatar diplomatic crisis The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic incident in the Middle East that began on 5 June 2017 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatar-registered planes and ships ...

, which has led to BeoutQ illegally retransmitting its programming in the country as an alternative outlet. beIN Sports has repeatedly accused the service of operating from within Saudi Arabia. In November 2019, beIN Sports threatened to cut its ties with the Serie A over the Saudi deal, accusing it of "making a quick buck from the very entity that has been stealing its rights for two years."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Supercoppa 2018

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Juventus F.C. matches A.C. Milan matches 2018–19 in Italian football cups Sports competitions in Saudi Arabia January 2019 sports events in Asia

Match

Details

Controversy

See also

References