Gerard Piqué, former footballer of Spain, Barcelona and Manchester United, has many reasons to love the sport. The three-time Champions League winner and World Cup champion earned millions at the pinnacle of the game with some of the greatest players of all time, including Lionel Messi.
But, like the Gen Z audience that has become enthralled with a runaway sport, it has grown weary of the game that made it a billionaire.
In response, Piqué created the Kings League, a sport that is probably unknown to many of the fans who watched the Barcelona legend grow, but is quickly becoming a hit with a younger and attention-deprived audience.
What is Kings League?
It seemed fitting to speak to Pique at London’s Twickenham Stadium, the home of England rugby and host of the English leg of the Rugby Sevens global championship. This represents a niche version of the 15-a-side game with fewer players and much shorter games.
Piqué, however, had other sports in mind when creating the King’s League.
A Kings League game starts like a water polo game, with a ball in the middle and the players starting on the goal line, rushing to take possession when the whistle blows. Each team starts with an outfielder and a goalkeeper before gradually calling the players into play for a seven-a-side match.
There are other crazy rules, like an orange ball replacing a white one in the final phase of the game.
Six games are played throughout Sunday, similar to how American sports have cannibalized a schedule. The women’s equivalent of the Kings League, the Queens League, plays until Saturday.
Internet influencers, mainly Twitch streamers, are the managers of the team, selecting players through a US franchise-style draft process.
The league has used some of Spain’s biggest influencers in its home market to grow its audience. That’s where Ibai Llanos comes in, a streamer with over 17 million Twitch followers who runs Porcinos FC.
Former players, including Manchester United star Javier “Chicharito” Hernández and former Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez, also manage teams.
The entire concept of the Royal League, from its shortened games to its influencer managers, is hand-crafted to appeal to the 18-35 demographic. Speaking at Leader’s Week London, Piqué described the format as “football with a video game”.
“Sport is not just about competing against other sports. They are competing against Netflix, HBO and Amazon. They are competing against Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. And for the kids, they are much more exciting now,” Piqué said.
The Kings League may have found the necessary balance to appeal to a young audience. Around 85% of the Royal League audience is under the age of 35.
Pushing for fame in the Royal League is what Piqué sees as the underlying fatigue of football’s evolution.
In fact, Piqué grew tired of football as he approached the end of his career, both physically and psychologically. On the physical side, the ever-increasing growth congestion of the traditional game to meet broadcast demand has put a lot of strain on players, including Piqué.
Psychologically, Piqué finds it increasingly difficult to watch a game for 90 minutes, something he shares with his young audience.
“I think 90 minutes is a long time, and that’s why we try to reduce our games.”
“It is impossible to go to a stadium for 90 minutes and finish the match 0-0. Conceptually, you can’t understand that, but it’s happening in traditional football.’
The money behind the League of Kings
It seems that Piqué has seen with his own eyes the trend that Generation Z A YouGov is starting to take. sports book By 2023, 30% of 18-24 year olds would watch sport live on TV, compared to around 75% of over 55s. Instead, younger viewers are much more likely to consume sports content on social media after an event. happen, and, as Piqué points out, playing video games.
Several traditional football clubs have adopted TikTok to increase their audience’s interest, and have started offering highlight reels for players to participate in viral trends. The Kings League is the culmination of all these changing habits.
However, trying to attract a young audience is an amazing feat. They have less income than their elders and often spend their parents’ money at their own discretion. The Kings League is also free-to-air on streaming channels, meaning they don’t benefit from the TV deals that traditional leagues like the English Premier League get.
However, there have been some financial wins for the growing league.
The lengthy nature of a Kings League event meant fans broke records for food and drink sales at La Liga side Atletic Madrid’s stadium, with children often dragging their parents along to the youth-oriented event.
And while younger viewers may not spend as much as their parents, the Kings League’s youth demographic is a gold mine for advertisers. The majority of the group’s revenue comes from companies eager to tap into younger audiences that can grow with them as they gain revenue in recent years.
The group has also managed not to pay directly to many of those involved. Influencers monetize the streaming channels they create for their leagues, which in turn attract advertising deals from the companies that sponsor the Kings League.
The players, on the other hand, are of relatively low quality, which means that they do not receive high salaries in the league.
From footballer to creator
Piqué founded the Kings League after a bitter retirement from his boyhood club FC Barcelona, where he was pressured to leave due to his excessive wages as the club suffered a financial crisis.
The Catalan knew he had to start thinking about a life away from football, and consulted former teammates who had retired about what lay ahead.
“They told me: Gerard be ready, because you change your whole routine,” he said of the conversations with former teammates.
“For 10 years, you’ve been doing the same, and suddenly you don’t train in the mornings. So I said, Well, I have to be ready. Let’s create something to keep me busy.’
He chose the business world, and it’s a long way from his time at the top of European football.
“I would say my day is a normal day as a guy who wants to start a company and run it,” Pique says. He will start his day at the office around 9:30 am and work until 6 or 7 pm, interspersed with trips to meet with business partners.
Moving to the office has had other adjustments, especially relationships with colleagues.
“I was a professional (footballer) for 20 years. I would say the atmosphere there was different than the office, because with your relationship with your teammates, you spend a lot of time with them. I mean, you have showers with them, you share everything.
“It’s different here in the office, but in a way, you have the same goal, which is to grow the company, to reach anywhere in the world, to expand as quickly as possible.”
In October, the Royals named Djamel Agaoua, the NBA’s former managing director for Europe and the Middle East, as general manager in a sign of its intention to expand beyond Europe and Latin America and into the US.
Despite his years of leadership on the pitch, the position of general manager was not something Piqué wanted to take on with the Kings League.
“I think we are a team, and everyone has something good to do. You have to figure out what it is and try to do your best to make the company successful. I am the creator. You can name it, it doesn’t matter.’
