- Just days after announcing his retirement from professional football, Gerard Pique announced his plans for the Kings League.
- The league rolled around at the start of 2023, and football fans have already started watching the teams play.
- The Kings League is a 12-team competition set up by Gerard Pique and popular Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos.
Just days after announcing his retirement from professional football, Gerard Pique announced his plans for the Kings League.
Well, we all know Gerard Pique as someone who has always been having his finger in a lot of business-related pies from his playing days.
The 35-year-old is the president of FC Andorra, brought us the Balloon World Cup and a revamped Davis Cup. And now, he has come up with the Kings League.
Gerard Pique. Photo/ NME.
The league rolled around at the start of 2023, and football fans have already watched the teams play. Here, we will give you detailed information about Gerard Pique’s new big project.
What Is The Kings League?
The Kings League is a 12-team competition set up by Gerard Pique and popular Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos. The presidents from each team are from the football world, social media and streamers.
The format of the league is seven-a-side, and all the teams have 12 players. The first ten players were picked via a draft streamed on Twitch last month.
The 11th and 12th players are former footballers or current footballers, in some cases. The 11th player has to be the same for the entirety of the campaign, whereas the 12th player can be changed every week.
The league has a normal phase of eleven matchdays, after which there will be a playoff for the title. The teams play each other twice across the season.
All the matches take place on Sunday in Barcelona, and the games can be streamed on the league’s Twitch channel. The teams also broadcast their games on their respective channels. Highlight packages are available on YouTube.
What Are The Rules
The games are forty minutes long and start with both players lined up on the goalline before charging forward, just like in water polo. Each half is 20 minutes, and the number of substitutions a team can make is unlimited.
Just like in normal football, there are offsides in the seven-a-side league.
There are sin bins for yellow and red cards. A player who has been shown a yellow card stays out for two minutes, while the one who has been shown a red card goes out for five minutes.
The VAR is also available but only upon request. Each team can only call for a VAR review once. If their appeal is successful, they will have another chance to turn to VAR again if need be. However, they won’t be given another chance if they are wrong.
If the game ends draw, there is a penalty shoot-out which is quite different to the one we see in football tournaments. In this case, players start at the halfway line and have five seconds to score.
The biggest difference between the league and other football matches is the golden card, which is selected by the coaches before the start of the game.
The coaches select from five cards without knowing what they are picking. The cards are: remove an opposition player for two minutes, instant penalty, rob a card, a joker card and any goal scored in the next minute counts double. If a coach picks a joker card, they can choose any other card.
Who Is Enigma In Kings League?
The most exciting thing to have come out of the league so far is the inclusion of a ‘mystery player’ who goes by the nickname Enigma.
Enigma. Photo/ ESPN.
Enigma wears a Mexican wrestling mask and has his arms covered so that his tattoos won’t be recognized. According to Gerard Pique, Enigma is a first division player who doesn’t want his identity revealed.
Fans made guesses that the player could be former FC Barcelona striker Denis Suarez or Isco. But according to Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, Enigma is none other than 27-year-old recently released Cadiz midfielder Nano Mesa.
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