Italian Super Cup, format made official: to be played in December, possible derby in final

Through a note published on Friday, Lega Serie A made official the format of the 2025 edition of the Italian Super Cup, which will be played at the Al-Awwal Park field in Riyadh. It will be the sixth edition overall in Saudi Arabia, the fourth consecutive (the latter all in Riyadh), and the third on the field that hosts the home matches of Al-Nassr, the club for which Cristiano Ronaldo plays.

There is a novelty from the point of view of the timing of the tournament, which changes from January to December. The format is the one active since 2023: present are the top two finishers of the last championship (Napoli and Inter, in this case) and the finalists of the Coppa Italia (Bologna and Milan). The semifinals will be played on Thursday, December 18 and Friday, December 19, the final on Monday, December 22. The matches will all be played at 8 p.m. Italian time, 10 p.m. local.

In the first semifinal on Thursday, Dec. 18, reigning Italian champions Napoli will take on AC Milan, finalists of the last Coppa Italia. Bologna, holder of the tricolor rosette destined for the club that won the domestic cup, will instead face Inter on Friday, 19. A Milan derby in the final is therefore possible, as happened last January (then Milan won by coming back from 0-2 to 3-2).

No news regarding, instead, the regulation of the matches: in case of a draw after 90 minutes, in fact, no extra time will be played but it will go directly to penalties. The eventuality of the lottery of shots from the penalty spot has not yet occurred with the new format: in fact, one has to go back as far as December 2016 to see a challenge decided on penalties, in that case, however, after the extra time had been played (Milan won, beating Juventus 4-3 after the 1-1 draw at 90′ and 120′).