Kings League

Kings League
The Kings League (officially known as the Kings League InfoJobs since December 2022 due to sponsorship reasons) is a seven-a-side football league in Barcelona established in 2022 by Gerard Piqué, in association with other notable football personalities and Internet streamers. The league features rules that differ from traditional football regulations with the aim of adding an element of dynamism and entertainment to the games, such as a tie-breaker penalty shootout, unlimited substitutions, and the implementation of secret weapons.
Format
The Kings League follows an Apertura and Clausura-style format in which each season is divided into two splits: the Winter Split and the Summer Split. Both splits have their own league stage and playoffs. During the league stage, the twelve teams play eleven matchdays and face every other team once. The top eight teams based on their rankings at the end of the league stage advance to the playoffs. Each matchday features six forty-minute matches, which are divided into two twenty-minute halves, which are played consecutively on the same ground.
For the inaugural season, players were given the opportunity to apply and were selected through a draft process that took place on 27 December 2022. Prospective players underwent physical and skill testing before the top prospects were drafted. Each team can have twelve players on roster: the draft involved selecting ten players, with the two additional roster slots reserved for guest players. These players are known as the 11th Player and 12th Player, and are usually footballers or streamers. The 12th Player can change on each match day, while the 11th Player is meant to stay with the team for the entire season.
Rules
The Kings League has a set of rules that have been created through a voting process conducted on social media platforms, where fans were given the opportunity to contribute and vote on the rules.
The unconventional rules include a tie-breaker penalty shootout from the centre of the field, the use of offsides, the allowance of handballs for throw-ins, unlimited substitutions, yellow cards resulting in a 2-minute exclusion, and red cards resulting in a 5-minute exclusion until a substitute can enter. The game starts with the ball in the centre of the field and players starting from the back line, games are divided into two 20-minute halves, and there is the inclusion of special "secret weapons" that each team can use once per game. These secret weapons include a penalty kick in their favor, a shootout in their favor, the exclusion of an opposing player for 2 minutes, a goal to be worth double for 2 minutes, a wildcard, and the ability to steal an opposing team's secret weapon card.
Player numbers can range from 0 to 99.
Late in the 2023 Winter Split, the "league cards" were introduced, reducing the number of players on the pitch for the last two minutes of the first half, temporarily turning the match into a one-on-one, two-a-side, three-a-side, four-a-side, five-a-side or six-a-side game. The cards would later be replaced by a giant dice which was rolled into the pitch at the 18-minute mark, and the six-a-side option replaced with a variation of the one-on-one game featuring an outfield player and a goalkeeper who is not allowed to leave the box.
Starting with the 2023 Summer Split, it was decided that goals would have double worth for both teams in the last two minutes of the game. It was amended for the Kings Cup so that, if the score was tied by the 38th minute, the game would switch to a golden goal instead of the double goal rule: if either team scores in that period, the match ends immediately; otherwise, the teams have to proceed to the penalty shoot-out. The double goal rule still applies in any scenario other than a tied score at the 38th minute.
Venue
The Kings League home ground is the Cupra Arena, located in the port of Barcelona. The Cupra Arena is part of the Logistics Activities Area (ZAL in Spanish) of the Port of Barcelona. On 20 January 2023, Kings League president Gerard Piqué and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that the semifinals and final of the winter split playoffs would be held as a Final Four event at the Camp Nou, the home ground of FC Barcelona, on 26 March 2023.
Broadcast
Kings League matches are available to watch for free through live streaming on the league's official Twitch, YouTube and TikTok channels, as well as on the individual channels of the team chairpersons.
The tournament achieved an average audience of 450,000 viewers in the first round, peaking at 780,000 viewers. In subsequent rounds, the viewership continued to grow significantly: in the second round, the average audience was 558,200 viewers, with a peak of 945,000 viewers; in the third round, a match was viewed by more than 1.3 million people.
On 13 March 2023, it was announced that Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya would air the Winter Split playoffs final, held on 26 March, live on its main channel TV3.
On 3 May 2023, Gerard Piqué announced an agreement with Mediaset España that would see the 8 p.m. game of each match day of both the Kings and Queens League air on Cuatro, starting with the opening match day of the Summer Split later that week.
Criticism
Format
One of the most controversial aspects of the league is its use of wild card rules, which allow teams to draw bonuses such as penalties, goal multipliers, and head-starts before the match begins. Most of the rules have been decided by the community through social media polls.
The second matchday featured a mysterious player for xBuyer Team wearing a lucha libre mask and outfit, and known only as "Enigma". There has been speculation that the player could be a famous professional; the identity of Enigma is unknown, with most speculation thinking he may be former Cádiz forward Nano Mesa, a free agent at the time.
La Liga president Javier Tebas has criticised the Kings League, calling it a "circus". Piqué did not rebut this, but defended the league, saying that in order to attract a younger audience, football must create shorter and more entertaining content.
Use of Camp Nou
FC Barcelona permitting the Kings League to use its flagship stadium, Camp Nou, for the 2023 Final Four event was criticised, as the Final Four was scheduled to take place on the same weekend as a women's Clásico between FC Barcelona Femení and Real Madrid Femenino. The Kings League prevented the women's Clásico from being able to be played at the Camp Nou, something which had sold out the stadium before, and which instead had to be played at the much-smaller Johan Cruyff Stadium. Criticism directed at the decision targeted FC Barcelona for prioritising the Kings League over one of its own teams.
Corruption allegations
Referee Manuel Titos quit the Kings League after the conclusion of the 2023 Winter Split, posting a statement in which he accused the league's organisers of trying to influence referees' decisions. During a livestream, he presented as evidence for these allegations a clip from a match in which he apparently already knew which secret weapon a team had before it was shown to him.
In response, Kunisports chairman Sergio Agüero defended the league during a live chat with Porcinos FC chairman Ibai Llanos, claiming that Titos had issues behind the scenes with unnamed people from the league organisation.
Player buyouts
Exclusivity became a requisite for Kings League players after the conclusion of the second split of the 2023 season, which resulted in some players voluntarily leaving the competition to continue 11-a-side careers, with others choosing to stay. In August 2023, Tercera Federación side FE Grama called for the Kings League to be subjected to formal regulations after Porcinos FC and xBuyer Team triggered the buyout clause of two Grama players, Nadir Louah and Adri Gimeno, who had previously featured in the league, so that they would leave Grama and continue to play exclusively in the Kings League.
Team organisation
Season 1 (2023)
On 28 December 2022, the league rebranded to include the name of main sponsor InfoJobs, a classifieds web service owned by Schibsted.
The inaugural season began on 1 January 2023 with the inaugural matchday of the Winter Split, and concluded on 26 March 2023 with El Barrio defeating Aniquiladores FC in the final to claim the title. The Summer Split is set to begin on 7 May 2023.
Performance by team
Retired shirt numbers
Sister competitions
Queens League
The Kings League has a sister competition for female players, which is called the Queens League. Shortly after the inaugural season of the Kings League started, Oriol Querol, CEO of Kings League and Kosmos Holding director, announced the Queens League, a competition for women. From May 2023, Queens League matches will be played on Saturdays, ahead of Kings League matches on Sundays. Former Spanish players like Priscila Borja and Willy offered themselves to join the Queens League. Ibai Llanos of Porcinos, was the first Kings League chairperson to confirm the creation of his women's team, Porcinas. Former player Borja Fernández offered to coach the team.
The Queens League was officially launched on 24 February 2023, with all of the Kings League teams taking part in the new tournament; some have changed branding for the women's team, and some have introduced female streamers as chairpersons.
Prince Cup
On 10 February's ChupChup (a stream about Kings League hosted by Piqué, Querol and Kings League chairmen) the creation of a small tournament for kids during August and December was announced, with Piqué comparing this tournament to LaLiga Promises.
The inaugural edition of the Prince Cup started on 31 August 2023, and culminated on 3 September with Los Troncos FC defeating Jijantes FC in the final.
Kingdom Cup
The Kingdom Cup is a mixed competition among the Kings and Queens League clubs in which one half of the match is played by the Kings League teams and the other half is played by the Queens League teams. The inaugural tournament is set to begin on 29 October 2023 and conclude with its finals on 25 November 2023.
Fantasy League
Kings League has an official fantasy league, sponsored by Marca.
Other countries
On 26 February 2023, shortly before Ronaldinho featured as a 12th player, Piqué announced him as the chairman of one of the teams for the upcoming Brazilian version of the league.
In March 2023, Querol stated that they had a goal to expand the Kings League format to multiple countries, in the hopes to organize a Kings League world championship with the best teams from each region as early as autumn 2024.
During the Chup Chup livestream on 14 July 2023, Oriol Querol announced the creation of the Kings League Américas, a competition with teams from the Spanish-speaking countries across the American continent, which is set to begin play in 2024 in Mexico City. During the Kings & Queens Finals event on 29 July, it was revealed that Mexican footballer Javier Hernández would be chairman of a team in the league.
See also
Media football
References
External links
Official website
Official Twitch chanel
Football leagues in Spain
Football in Barcelona
2022 establishments in Spain
Sports leagues established in 2022
Seven-a-side football competitions