The King’s League surpassed 2 million viewers: what is the future of the league after the final?

The kings leaguethe 7-a-side soccer league with alternative rules created and chaired by former Barcelona soccer player Gerard Piqué, is a videogame a reality that exceeded two million viewers the night Ronaldinho played and that he is already preparing for the final four that will be played on March 26 at the Spotify Camp Nou.

“HWe have taken things from other sports, such as the water polo serve and the exclusions from handball. But also from video games, like secret weaponsa concept that assimilates us more to eSports than to traditional sport”, Oriol Querol, CEO of the Kings League, organized by the company Kosmos, explains to EFE.

, sentence. Precisely, the presence of Ronaldinho, one of Barça’s 21st century legends, served to announce that he will be one of the presidents of the Brazilian edition.

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In 2024, Querol reports, “The idea is to be in various countries (Argentina and Mexico have also applied, among others) and that in the fall of that same year World Cups can be held with the best teams from each region”.

In this sense, it reveals that, “from the second daythey began toreceive proposals from many countries, serious and with important partners”, which caused them to have to “accelerate reflection on expansion”.

Bright colors, pyrotechnics to celebrate goals, mostly anonymous players. Only the objects that you can throw at your rivals in Mario Kart are missing. Although Piqué already joked about implementing a vest that simulates stab wounds and shots that he discovered at the Mobile World Congress on the goalkeepers.

The Cupra Arena, which is still a humble pavilion built in the 1980s for the workers of the Port of Barcelona and the State security forces and bodies, is a television set. Or Twitch, in this case. Historical events are constantly happening there. Or so the organizers and participants sell it.

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Each day has an average of half a million viewers. Although only 300 of them are face-to-face (commitments, they do not sell tickets), those that fit in the old ZAL pavilion in the Zona Franca neighborhood of Barcelona.

“We announced the Kings League project on November 10 without having a flag yet. We comb the entire metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona and a large part of Catalonia looking for one”, says Querol.

The needs of the Kings League were as follows: 60 meters long by 40 wide, several changing rooms and space to install a production control and offices. And absolute availability, of course.

“We couldn’t find it. We always ended up running into sites that had columns. But on December 3, 24 days after the draft and 28 after the start of the competition, we found this pavilion. We reached an agreement very quickly with the port to use it and reform it with our needs. We transform it in 14 days”, assures the CEO of the competition.

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Until then, two federated futsal teams played there, Club Esportiu Terra Negra and Inter l’Hospitalet, who from one day to the next ran out of a place to train and play their matches. After a conflictive start to the relationship, the Kings League looked for alternative pavilions in the Barcelona metropolitan area so that they could continue with their activity.

“The product we work with is television broadcasting. The transformation of the space has been halfway between a nightclub, a television set and a sports hall. There is a lot of light and sound installation that is more typical of a concert or a television event”, considers Querol.

In addition, it ensures that the control of realization that they have built on the outside of the building “competes with any television control of a traditional set”.

All of this investment in cutting-edge technology is in stark contrast to the in-person experience beyond the pitch. The players can be left without a seat to watch the other games, the teams warm up on a carpet outside and to get to and from the pavilion you have to do it with a shuttle bus because it is in a restricted area of ​​the port.

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The bar is located about 100 meters from the pavilion, the Wi-Fi barely works and there the stars become anonymous again, like three months ago. Edgar Álvaro, goalscorer for Los Troncos and one of the best players in the Kings Leaguequeues for coffee before giving an exhibition on the pitch in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.

He is also a striker for Rubí de Primera Catalana. Álvaro is combining the Kings League with federated football, but many other players tried and failed. This fact originated the complaint of some regional soccer clubs, who saw how some of their best soccer players were left without compensation in the middle of the season.

The isolated location of the Cupra Arena, which complicates the organization of the competition from a logistical point of view, keeps celebrities away from the fans. Piqué moves around the stage as if he were in his house. He, like Clara Chía, a Kosmos worker and her current partner. At most, a child asks Joan Capdevila for a photo.

The world champion is one of the former professional players who complete the teams. Another of them is Dídac Vilà, former player of Espanyol, Betis, Milan, Eibar and AEK Athens. “I’m having a great time. The motivation of the colleagues is brutal and the show they have put on is a lot of fun. It is a way to enjoy football without pressure”, explains the Rayo de Barcelona footballer to EFE.

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For his part, the CEO of the Kings League says that they have been surprised: “We have been shocked by the magnitude and age of the follower of the competition. He responds to an older age group than we expected. There are families who spend Sunday afternoon watching the games together. Also, there are many countries following him”.

The big day will be March 26, when the four-way final will be played at the Spotify Camp Nou. and the performances of Tiago PZK, Lali and the cockfights between Chuty, Gazir, Bnet and Skone have been confirmed. The other day Barcelona woke up with a giant banner: “That we fill the Camp Nou scares them a lot”.

Source: Elcomercio

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