ICYMI: Pique's Kings League. A different kind of football.

I just found out, as I was looking for various innovations in football, that Gerard Pique' launched in January 2023 his innovative format football tournament, Kings League. Apologies if this is old news for many.

Quite intriguing to see how football can be innovated with some radical changes, even if starting from indoor futsal kind of game. Clearly targeted at a more GenZ audience and people who expect to be involved and expect some gamification - look at their "Secret weapons".

I guess most of us would take it as a non-serious attempt and its financial success maybe under scrutiny, but still, I believe we need to be open and test new things to advance football.

Can this be for football what padel is for tennis?

This is?"A guy with a scarf" ?episode No.9 for February 2023.

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Some different football

Gerard Pique' believes football needs radical change, so he launched his new indoor football tournament.

What is it and what is different?

Created by?Gerard Piqué?and top Twitch streamer Ibai, it combines seven-a-side football and gaming but with a whole new twist on the rules.

What is different? Almost everything apart from the ball.

Tournament format

The Kings League is a seven-a-side competition which sees twelve teams battling it out to be crowned champions. Each team will play 11 matches before a play-off for the title with 8 teams. There are two seasons in one year, winter and summer.

Teams

Each team has a squad of 12 players. The first 10 players, were picked in a draft which was streamed on Twitch at the end of 2022, from hopefuls who had signed up in November. Teams are allowed to add two others, which are normally ex-professionals, but they can also be current players too. However, the 11th player has to stay the same for the whole season, but the 12th player can be someone different from week to week.

Teams are: 1K FC, Aniquiladores FC, El Barrio, Jijantes FC, Kunisports, Los Troncos FC, PIO FC, Porcinos FC, Rayo de Barcelona, Saiyans FC, Ultimate Móstoles, xBuyer Team.

Matches

Games (6) take place back-to-back on Sundays and are streamed online.

Matches are 40 minutes long and consist of two 20 minutes halves.

Rules (as voted by fans)

1. There is no tie, Kings League matches can't end in a draw. If scores finish tied, then the game goes to penalties (shootout = a player dribble the ball from the half-way line before taking a shot at goal, as happens in ice hockey.)
2. Kick-off involves both sides running from their respective goal line into the middle of the field to take possession of the ball on the centre spot.
3. Teams are able to make endless substitutions
4. Yellow card means the player is out for 2 mins
5. Red card means the player is out for 5 mins and then needs to be substituted
6. Offside is applied
7. VAR is available but teams, not the referee, can call for it. If correct they keep the option to use it again, if wrong they lose the option for the rest of the game
8. Secret weapons cards are available at the start of the match, each team randomly gets one. Once picked, both team's cards are kept a secret, so that neither team know which card the opposition has chosen.

Secret cards

• Instant penalty
• Instant shootout
• Removal of an opposition player for 2 mins
• Any goal scored in the next minute counts as double
• Stealing the opposition's card
• Joker card which allows team to choose any one of the above four bonuses

Complete rule book here: https://kingsleague.pro/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/KINGS-League-Reglamento.pdf

My take

While this is quite a good group of innovations I would also have welcomed other ideas:

• Integration of women players in the same team, being indoor I can see quite some women players who can play well there
• Direct intervention of fans in the game - may be connected to the "Secret Weapons" cards
• Effective time like in basketball

Who is involved?

The teams are led by a mixture of former professional players, Spanish-speaking online streamers and internet celebrities.

Some of the biggest names include Manchester City's record goalscorer?Sergio Aguero, who is president of Kunisports and former Spain and Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas, who is president of 1K FC.

Each president was responsible for naming their team and designing their club badge.

The league was set up and is played in Spain, so has mainly attracted Spanish-speaking professional players.

Footballers who have taken part so far include Javier Hernández, however the Mexican striker is unlikely to appear again given his club commitments at LA Galaxy.

Others who have been involved include former World Cup winner Joan Capdevila and ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid forward Javier Saviola.

Enigma

"Enigma" as he's called, wears a Mexican wrestling mask and gloves during the match so that he can't be identified.

He also has his arms covered "so his tattoos won't be recognised", according to Gerard Piqué.

Piqué added to the mystery by saying the Enigma is a "first-division player" who "doesn't want to reveal his identity".

Where to watch

The league is mainly live streamed on twitch

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/kingsleague

According to?the organizers, they've had "weekly averages of over 600 700,000 people watching the games. We reached a point a few days ago of live views of more than 1,370,000 people watching a match."

I am sure they are building up to negotiate media rights deals, but i would also look into using players own media channels as a distribution channel.

Gerard Pique'

By the way, he is also involved in various controversies (beyond the private life's ones) for other ventures.

What about Queens?

It should start on May 6. they are in the process of selecting players.

Also in MENA:

This is happening tonight!

From OneFootball ( Lucas von Cranach , Yannick Manuel Ramcke , Christina Lundari ): "Thanks to our friends at?Paris Saint-Germain, we’re streaming THE major mid-season friendly, featuring Cristiano Ronaldo playing his first match since moving to Saudi Arabia, live tonight on OneFootballThe match sees an XI selected from leading Saudi clubs Al-Hilal and Ronaldo’s?AlNassr Football Club?taking on the French champions, with Ronaldo captaining the Saudi team and reigniting his rivalry with recent World Cup winner, Lionel Messi of PSG."

It would be nice to see football innovations applied to these kind of games that are organized outside the traditional media rights ecosystem, and can be more open to new approaches.

Also in the US: Overtime OT7

Let's look at someone else organizing new football (american) tournaments.

OT7 marks Overtime’s second wholly-owned sports league venture after successfully creating a brand around youth basketball.

I will be heading to London next week to meet people and also to be at ICE London 2023. Gaming-land!

See you next week!