This has been the trending topic in recent weeks. Between curious enthusiasts and violent detractors, Gerard Piqué’s Kings League, founded just 16 months ago, continues to liven up debates and cause a lot of ink to flow in the world of football. To the point where journalists, players, presidents and other football protagonists continue to give their opinions. The announcement of the next 7-a-side World Cup, organized by the Kings League, hit the international headlines. Indeed, this competition will take place in Mexico from May 26 to June 8. The rules of this competition differ from classic football: teams are made up of seven players, yellow cards follow the codes of ice hockey with an exclusion of 2 minutes, red cards result in an inferiority of 5 minutes before benefiting from the possibility to change the excluded player, kick-offs resemble those of water polo with players rushing to the middle of the field to grab the ball, draws are decided on a penalty shootout which takes the form of a face-to-face match in the style of ice hockey and the matches are divided into two halves of 20 minutes.
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New rules for a unique football. Also note the addition of a special “secret weapons” card usable once per match which allows you to unlock a free kick, a penalty, a temporary exclusion of the opponent, theft of a special opponent card, a “double count” goal »… So many new things that please or displease the general public. However, the explanations of Gerard Piqué and the other leaders of this dissident competition are very clear and completely audible: “The Kings League was born from a reflection on what football is today and because part of the public thinks that football sometimes becomes a boring product, that ninety minutes is too much long and that the events are not always there and sometimes there are draws. It’s different”, declared Oriol Querol, the president and general manager of the Kings League, a year ago now. Twelve months later, the project has taken a dazzling turn and significant development. But this new nugget of entertainment leaves no one indifferent and it is important to take the time to read between the lines of all these statements and understand how the former defender of FC Barcelona and La Roja draws up an honest analysis of certain problems in football today. today and especially why the Kings League represents a different but possible path.
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Un diagnostic franc du football moderne
Football has changed, as a certain Paris Saint-Germain player said. A large part of football fans, born in the 90s and 2000s, experienced a redefinition of the way football matches are consumed. The community aspect through strong digitalization on social networks represents, nowadays, a necessity, if not the major asset, for the success of this sport. It is therefore no coincidence that Gerard Piqué relies on videographers and streamers, such as the Spaniard Ibai Llanos and the French Amine, for the development of his Kings League: “I think that as many people still follow football, but it has become very expensive. A Kings League is free, it’s entertainment for everyone. There are still so many people interested, and if that wasn’t the case, no one would be interested in our project because it’s still football. It’s going to be sporty, intense, it’s an alternative, but for me, one doesn’t preclude the other. It’s neither rivalry nor competition.”declared the French streamer to the 2,500,000 million followers on Twitch in the columns of Parisian. Indeed, free access and accessibility are other elements highlighted by Piqué. While the various European leagues continue long and tedious arm wrestling with multimedia groups for TV rights against a backdrop of big money stories, the Kings League also resolves this problem by advocating better attractiveness with free access TV partners like YouTube, TikTok and Twitch.
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The popular outcry is fierce when certain championships block goal videos on Twitter because social networks provide a certain connectivity and interactivity that many football fans today seek. The rise of online media has also revitalized media coverage of competitions: “I believe that young people consume sport in a different way. They are aware of everything, but they have difficulty spending 90 minutes watching a match. You have to try to find things that they like and to which they devote time, find products that motivate them”, explained the former Spanish international. Whether the detractors of the Kings League like it or not, Piqué’s observation is real. Football is today mainly experienced through social networks, at a time when buying tickets in the largest stadiums in Europe is becoming inaccessible for a large number of fervent supporters in the four corners of the world. And the audiences of the Kings League completely prove the leaders of this young modern competition right with a record of 15 million viewers for the first day in January 2023. Note that they also filled the Camp Nou for the finals of the tournament with a peak of 2.6 million online spectators (i.e. the audience for a PSG Champions League group match in France). Everything is simplified to reinforce entertainment and increase loyalty on the networks, at a time when a majority of football fans are fed up with the countless number of matches per week and per month with numerous international breaks. A force-feeding that the Kings League wants to erase.
When you look more closely, derivatives of the most popular sports increasingly work for the same reasons as the Kings League. A shorter, more spectacular, more modern format. 3×3 basketball, which has become an Olympic sport, is enjoying impressive development. Padel, whose matches last less than tennis, continues to go beyond the borders of Spain and South America. Sevens football with the Kings League is the logical continuation of this phenomenon. Even if traditional football will logically remain as dominant as ever with major competitions such as the World Cup, the Euro or the Champions League, Gerard Piqué is right. Football is not evolving in the best way with too many matches, too many competitions, too much money at stake between the media, clubs, federations, leagues… There are also fewer and fewer big stars , fewer and fewer attractive rivalries, fewer and fewer new and varied tactical ideas, compared to ten or even twenty years. But these two footballs can easily complement each other: “They are two very different things, but they are compatible. We do not want to be compared to the king sport which is football and which has the most fans in the world. We want to be different and when people look at us, they have a good time.”, added Piqué. Football wasn’t necessarily better before but it was less messy. This is the observation of Gerard Piqué, who also hopes to rely on the presence of former football stars such as Ronaldinho, Andrea Pirlo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Djibril Cissé, Iker Casillas and Sergio Agüero to diversify his consumer base.
Pub. 03/24/2024 7:00 p.m. Updated 03/24/2024 7:47 p.m.
2024-03-24 18:00:37
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