If football is an 11-on-11 sport where the Germans always win, the Kings League is a competition where Gerard Piqué always wins. The former Barça footballer-turned-businessman and founder of the 7v7 football competition and show made up of streamers that reach large audiences via Twitch, flew over the Camp Nou by helicopter this Sunday and landed in his just after four Vicinity . Along with him four presidents of the 12 teams in his league classified for the bottom four. When he entered the stadium from which he retired as a culé player on November 5, he already had everything that came after in mind. “I prepared the transition; the Kings League had it in mind,” he recently admitted to this newspaper.
Piqué stepped onto the pitch of Barça Stadium this Sunday. He was carrying the Kings League winners’ trophy in his hands. At that time, the Camp Nou was practically full. More than 90,000 tickets were sold at prices between 10 and 60 euros. “We put on a little show with the helicopter, but we’re already here with the trophy. There is nothing quite like seeing the Camp Nou in full. For me, we are in the best stadium in the world. Nothing beats a historic night at the Camp Nou,” he said as soon as he sat down on a stage set up at the edge of the pitch to greet him, Kings League CEO Oriol Querol and several of the presidents of the participating teams in the competition, such as streamer Ibai Llanos and former Argentinian player Kun Aguero, while ex-Madridista Iker Casillas did not visit the stadium of the eternal white rival.
Gerard Piqué with the Kings League trophy before the final at the Camp Nou with 90,000 spectators this Sunday. Marta Perez (EFE)
The Spotify Camp Nou, which was eventually attended by 92,522 people, was a TV for seven hours. There was a preview of the Presidents of Kings, musical performances by Spanish rappers (Skone, Chuty, Gazir and Bnet) and two Argentinian singers (Lali and Tiago PZK) and a 7v7 soccer field where the semifinals and the finals were played. The essence of the plot was to meet the first champion. There were four finalists from the 12 teams in the league. Trunks from streamer Perxiita; Annihiladores, by Mexican streamer Juan Guarnizo; Saiyans, from content creator The Grefg; and El Barrio, by Tiktoker Adrian Contreras. It was the latter who clinched the win (3-0 against Annihiladores) after ten thirty in the evening. An unexpected win for their regular league career where they finished eighth.
In the stands, many fathers, mothers too, with their children, different generations, watching a show that triumphs essentially among young people and adolescents. Children enjoying the live show for the first time since in the last three months – the competition started on January 1st – the games have been played in a pavilion in the port of Barcelona, called Cupra Arena, has been scarce Visited by almost 300 people every Sunday and always by invitation. But every day they were followed by an average of 600,000 viewers on Twitch, peaking at two million on the day Ronaldinho was invited to play with one of the teams.
A helicopter flies over the Spotify Camp Nou with 90,000 spectators, where the Kings League final will take place this Sunday.Marta Perez (EFE)
The stands were full of teenagers, parents and children with a different vision of football. Adults, more used to the traditional 90-minute football with fixed rules and a more passive participation, limited to cheering for their team, came to see a kind of original show where the spectators are the protagonists at the Selection of the rules are that govern the competition. Young people who made the leap from the virtual to the real this Sunday hooked up to their cell phones, computers or televisions and watched the show live.
“It’s more entertaining than football. There are rules that regular football doesn’t have, there’s more interaction and it’s more accessible. It’s a good idea and I hope it’s done more often,” said Alex, 13. Next to him is his father Marc, 38: “I think it’s an added value for football. Young people are attracted to this type of competition and are more interested in it than a 90-minute game where nothing happens.” They, like many spectators on the field, wore their teams’ scarves as if it were a normal football game and no competition with alternative rules and different jokers during the games. On that occasion, according to the organization, 2.1 million people watched the Final Four on Twitch, YouTube and TikTok, slightly more than on Ronaldinho’s day.
“We don’t like to compare ourselves to traditional football, I think we’re something completely different, we’re a product closer to entertainment than sport. Sport and entertainment are increasingly going hand in hand,” argued Gerard Piqué at the press conference on Saturday before the event. Around forty players from the four teams fought on the field to win the first Kings League Cup. Most of them come from the lower divisions of Catalan football and, before arriving here, were selected in a similar draft to American sport. In other words, a selection process that saw 8,000 applicants attempting to join the league teams, with a final selection of 120 players. None of them had seen themselves in this situation, many of them fulfilled their dream of playing at the Camp Nou pitch, but none of them imagined that they would once play with a 7v7 football team in one of Gerard created competition would play piqué and in front of more than 92,000 spectators.
Follow EL PAÍS Deportes on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.