SÃO PAULO, Jan 17 (Reuters) – The Kings League, a 7-a-side football competition founded by Gerard Piqué, plans to arrive in the United States in 2026 but does not see its rapid expansion stopping there, the former Spanish defender told Reuters.
The league, according to Piqué, hopes to enter more markets around the world and is also considering the possibility of licensing its format in the future.
Created by Piqué in 2022, the Kings League combines football with elements taken from video games, in addition to including shorter matches, new rules, strong interaction with the public and the presence of social media personalities as central figures in teams and events.
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The competition quickly expanded from Spain to Italy, Germany, France, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, where the sport’s World Cup is being held this month.
Around 40 thousand people are expected this Saturday at the final between Brazil and Chile at Allianz Parque, in São Paulo.
Looking ahead, the priority now is to consolidate the audience base at the same time as new markets are opened, said Piqué.
With launch in the USA scheduled for this year, the former defender highlighted that the league will act with some caution in the North American market, the first in which the Kings League will be present without football being the number 1 sport in the country.
“There will be different challenges, which is why we want to take the time to think very carefully about what is the best way to do this,” he said in an interview in São Paulo on Friday.
Kings League CEO Djamel Agaoua noted that in addition to the league’s standard product, the North American version will likely require a larger entertainment component.
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“It’s not just the fact that football is probably the fourth or fifth most popular sport in the country, but also that the U.S. is the pinnacle of sports entertainment culture,” Agaoua said. “We probably need to invest a little more in this.”
LICENSING AND OTHER SPORTS
In addition to the USA, Piqué mentioned strong interest from countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal, Turkey, South Korea and Japan in the Kings League, as well as several South American markets such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia.
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Future expansion of the league could involve licensing the format, according to the former Barcelona defender, world champion with the Spanish national team in 2010.
“There are a lot of countries we want to take the product to and we need to find a way. We can’t manage 30 or 40 leagues because it would be a nightmare for us as a company. So maybe the idea is to try to license the product,” he said.
The Kings League is also exploring the possibility of eventually expanding into sports other than football. Agaoua cited basketball, tennis and wrestling as possible examples. “There are many activities where our recipe could work,” he said.
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