Barcelona to face Atletico Madrid in controversial revamped Spanish Super Cup
CGTN
Barcelona celebrate winning the Spanish Super Cup in Grand Stade de Tanger, Tangier, Morocco on August 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

Barcelona celebrate winning the Spanish Super Cup in Grand Stade de Tanger, Tangier, Morocco on August 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

Saudi Arabia will stage a newly expanded four-team Spanish Super Cup under the tournament's new format which will be played in January 2020, Spain's national soccer association (RFEF) said on Monday.

La Liga champions Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid while Valencia will take on Real Madrid in the revamped tournament between January 8-12. Those games as well as the final featuring the winner of the two matches will take place at the 62,000-capacity King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Jeddah.

"The Spanish Super Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia over the next three years and will be held in winter with the objective of easing fixture congestion, as players and clubs have been calling for," RFEF said in a statement.

"The internationalization of the competition will increase its value and at the same time contribute to raising our visibility and improving our image ahead of our bid to host the 2030 World Cup."

This is not the first time that the competition has been played outside of Spain, with the 2018 edition taking place in Tangier, Morocco, on August when Barcelona took the trophy.

The federation declined to say how much the deal was worth but said all income earned from the revamped tournament would be reinvested in amateur football and women's football, aside from money granted to the four competing clubs.

With the tournament's new format and location comes a bolstered prize pool, as the defeated semi-finalists will pocket around nine million euros, while the finalists will earn 12 million euros.

(With input from Reuters)