The Kings League (officially known as the Kings League InfoJobs since November 2023 due to sponsorship reasons) is a

seven-a-side football Seven-a-side football is one of the minifootball variations of football, which is played among seven players in each team. In the game consists of one goalkeeper and six outfield players. The pitch of seven-a-side football is bigger than the fiv ...

league in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

established in 2023. The league features rules that differ from traditional football regulations with the aim of adding an element of dynamism and entertainment to the games, such as a tie-breaker penalty shootout, unlimited substitutions, and the implementation of secret weapons.

Format

The Kings League follows an

Apertura and Clausura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is div ...

-style format in which each season is divided into two splits: the Winter Split and the Summer Split. Both splits have their own league stage and playoffs. During the league stage, the twelve teams play eleven matchdays and face every other team once. The top eight teams based on their rankings at the end of the league stage advance to the playoffs. Each matchday features six forty-minute matches, which are divided into two twenty-minute halves, which are played consecutively on the same ground. For the inaugural season, players were given the opportunity to apply and were selected through a draft process that took place on 27 December 2022. Prospective players underwent physical and skill testing before the top prospects were drafted. Each team can have twelve players on roster: the draft involved selecting ten players, with the two additional roster slots reserved for guest players. These players are known as the 11th Player and 12th Player, and are usually footballers or streamers. The 12th Player can change on each match day, while the 11th Player is meant to stay with the team for the entire season.

Rules

The Kings League has a set of rules that have been created through a voting process conducted on social media platforms, where fans were given the opportunity to contribute and vote on the rules. The unconventional rules include a tie-breaker penalty shootout from the centre of the field, the use of offsides, the allowance of handballs for throw-ins, unlimited substitutions, yellow cards resulting in a 2-minute exclusion, and red cards resulting in a 5-minute exclusion until a substitute can enter. The game starts with the ball in the centre of the field and players starting from the back line, games are divided into two 20-minute halves, and there is the inclusion of special "secret weapons" that each team can use once per game from halftime up until the end. These secret weapons include the following: * Penalty – An automatic penalty kick. * Shoot-out – A penalty scenario where the player starts from midfield and has a one-on-one breakaway with the opposing goalkeeper. The player must shoot within five seconds but can make as many moves as they can in that period up to five seconds between starting that breakaway and taking the shot. As mentioned, penalty shootouts to break ties also use this format. This variation originated in the United States and was used in first the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL) in the 1970s and 1980s and then in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(MLS) for its first four seasons (1996–1999). * Double Goal – The team playing the card has their goals count double for the next 4 minutes, excluding president penalties. * Suspension – The team playing the card can remove an opposing player from the field for 4 minutes. * Star Player – The team playing the card can designate a player as their Star Player, signified by an armband similar to a captain's armband. All goals from this player up until the 39th minute count double. * Joker – The team can activate one of the other cards or alternately cancel or steal the opposing team's card. Player numbers can also range from 0 to 99. Late in the 2023 Winter Split, the "league cards" were introduced, reducing the number of players on the pitch for the last two minutes of the first half, temporarily turning the match into a one-on-one, two-a-side, three-a-side, four-a-side, five-a-side or six-a-side game. The cards would later be replaced by a giant dice which was rolled into the pitch at the 18-minute mark, and the six-a-side option replaced with a variation of the one-on-one game featuring an outfield player and a goalkeeper who is not allowed to leave the box. Starting with the 2023 Summer Split, it was decided that goals would have double worth for both teams beginning in the 39th minute. It was amended for the Kings Cup so that, if the score was tied at the end of the 38th minute, the game would switch to a

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

instead of the double goal rule: if either team scores in that period, the match ends immediately; otherwise, the teams have to proceed to the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

. The double goal rule still applies in any scenario other than a tied score at the 38th minute.

Draft and market

The Kings League and

Queens League The Queens League (officially known as the Queens League Oysho due to sponsorship reasons) is a seven-a-side football league in Barcelona established in 2023 by Gerard Piqué, football personalities and Online streamer, internet streamers. It is ...

have a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

and

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

system based on North American sports. The trading system uses a

virtual economy A virtual economy (or sometimes synthetic economy) is an emergent economy existing in a virtual world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an online game, particularly in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). People enter th ...

in which teams are supplied a fixed amount of "Euros" (100 million) by the league and players can be exchanged for "Euros" (or in player swaps, for draft picks, or a combination), but there is no real currency involved. The drafts and markets are held over a similar period. The first Kings League transfer window in April 2023 consisted of buyout clauses and bidding options (with the player then choosing) and was held in a one-day live event. The combined Kings and Queens League market ahead of the 2024 season, held as a one-week

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, instead used simple asset exchanges as the means of trade.

Venue

The Kings League home ground is the Cupra Arena, located in the

port of Barcelona Managed by Spanish Government The Port of Barcelona ( ca, Port de Barcelona, ; es, Puerto de Barcelona) has a 150-year history and great contemporary commercial importance as one of Europe's major ports in the Mediterranean. It is also Spain's th ...

. The Cupra Arena is part of the Logistics Activities Area (ZAL in Spanish) of the Port of Barcelona. On 20 January 2023, Kings League president

Gerard Piqué Gerard Piqué Bernabeu (, ; born 2 February 1987) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is considered one of the best defenders of his generation. Initially a highly promising student at La Masia, Piqué ...

and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

president

Joan Laporta Joan Laporta Estruch (; born 29 June 1962) is a Spanish politician and current president of FC Barcelona. Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a number of notable Sp ...

announced that the semifinals and final of the winter (inaugural) split playoffs would be held as a Final Four event at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

, the home ground of

, on 26 March 2023. Other venues around Spain, both outdoor and indoor, have since hosted Final Fours: : ¹ Renovation of the Camp Nou began after the 2022–23 La Liga season.

Broadcast

Kings League matches are available to watch for free through

live streaming Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

on the league's official

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

channels, as well as on the individual channels of the team chairpersons. The tournament achieved an average audience of 450,000 viewers in the first round, peaking at 780,000 viewers. In subsequent rounds, the viewership continued to grow significantly: in the second round, the average audience was 558,200 viewers, with a peak of 945,000 viewers; in the third round, a match was viewed by more than 1.3 million people. On 13 March 2023, it was announced that Catalan public broadcaster

Televisió de Catalunya Televisió de Catalunya (, known by the acronym TVC) is the public broadcasting network of Catalonia, one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, a public corporation cre ...

would air the Winter Split playoffs final, held on 26 March, live on its main channel

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

. On 3 May 2023,

announced an agreement with

Mediaset España Mediaset España (), full name Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A., is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian company MFE - MediaForEurope. Its divisions include the generalist free-to-air TV channels Telecinco and Cuatro, thematic ch ...

that would see the 8 p.m. game of each match day of both the Kings and

air on

Cuatro Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...

, starting with the opening match day of the Summer Split later that week.

Criticism

Format

One of the most controversial aspects of the league is its use of wild card rules, which allow teams to draw bonuses such as penalties, goal multipliers, and head-starts before the match begins. Most of the rules have been decided by the community through social media polls. The second matchday featured a mysterious player for xBuyer Team wearing a

lucha libre Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

mask and outfit, and known only as "Enigma". There has been speculation that the player could be a famous professional; the identity of Enigma is unknown, with most speculation thinking he may be former

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

forward

Nano Mesa Alexander Mesa Travieso (born 5 February 1995), commonly known as just Nano, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Nano was born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Canary Islands, and joined CD Tenerife's youth setup in 2006 ...

, a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

at the time.

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

president

Javier Tebas Javier Tebas Medrano (; born 31 July 1962) is a Spanish lawyer and the president of Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, the association responsible for administering Spain's two professional football leagues. First elected in April 2013, he w ...

has criticised the Kings League, calling it a "circus". Piqué did not rebut this, but defended the league, saying that in order to attract a younger audience, football must create shorter and more entertaining content.

Use of Camp Nou

FC Barcelona permitting the Kings League to use its flagship stadium, Camp Nou, for the 2023 Final Four event was criticised, as the Final Four was scheduled to take place on the same weekend as a women's Clásico between

FC Barcelona Femení Futbol Club Barcelona Femení, commonly referred to as Barça Femení, is a Spanish professional women's association football, women's football team based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It's the women's football section of FC Barcelona and it compete ...

and

Real Madrid Femenino Real Madrid Femenino is a Spanish women's football club in Madrid. Founded as the independent Club Deportivo TACÓN in 2014, the club later underwent a merger and acquisition process with Real Madrid beginning in 2019 and was officially rebrand ...

. The Kings League prevented the women's Clásico from being able to be played at the Camp Nou, something which had sold out the stadium before, and which instead had to be played at the much-smaller

Johan Cruyff Stadium Johan Cruyff Stadium (Catalan: ''Estadi Johan Cruyff''; Spanish: ''Estadio Johan Cruyff'') is a football stadium operated by FC Barcelona in Sant Joan Despí, Province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, located in the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, ...

. Criticism directed at the decision targeted FC Barcelona for prioritising the Kings League over one of its own teams.

Corruption allegations

Referee Manuel Titos quit the Kings League after the conclusion of the 2023 Winter Split, posting a statement in which he accused the league's organisers of trying to influence referees' decisions. During a livestream, he presented as evidence for these allegations a clip from a match in which he apparently already knew which secret weapon a team had before it was shown to him. In response, Kunisports chairman

Sergio Agüero Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo (born 2 June 1988), also known as Kun Agüero, is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest playe ...

defended the league during a live chat with Porcinos FC chairman

Ibai Llanos Ibai Llanos Garatea (born 26 March 1995), better known mononymously as Ibai, is a Spanish internet celebrity, streamer, and esports caster. He was a content creator for G2 Esports from 2020 to 2021. He is co-owner of the esports team KOI, a ...

, claiming that Titos had issues behind the scenes with unnamed people from the league organisation.

Player buyouts

Exclusivity became a requisite for Kings League players after the conclusion of the second split of the 2023 season, which resulted in some players voluntarily leaving the competition to continue 11-a-side careers, with others choosing to stay. In August 2023,

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera División RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional divisions ...

side

FE Grama Fundació Esportiva Grama is a Spanish football team based in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded on 2 July 2013, it plays in , holding home games at ''Nou Municipal de Gramenet'', with a capacit ...

called for the Kings League to be subjected to formal regulations after Porcinos FC and xBuyer Team triggered the

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

of two Grama players, Nadir Louah and Adri Gimeno, who had previously featured in the league, so that they would leave Grama and continue to play exclusively in the Kings League.

Team organisation

Season 1 (2023)

On 28 December 2022, the league rebranded to include the name of main sponsor InfoJobs, a

classifieds Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...

web service owned by

Schibsted Schibsted Media Group is an international media group. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The CEO is Kristin Skogen Lund. In 2019, Schibsted spun off the majority of their online marketplac ...

. The inaugural season began on 1 January 2023 with the inaugural matchday of the Winter Split, and concluded on 26 March 2023 with El Barrio defeating Aniquiladores FC in the final to claim the title. The Summer Split began on 7 May 2023 with the inaugural matchday of the Summer Split, and concluded with XBuyer Team defeating Winter Split champions, El Barrio on 29 July 2023 to claim their first title.

Season 2 (2024)

The second season of the league began on 7 May and it was announced to conclude on 20 April.

Performance by team

Retired shirt numbers

Sister competitions

Queens League

The Kings League has a sister competition for female players, which is called the Queens League. Shortly after the inaugural season of the Kings League started, Oriol Querol, CEO of Kings League and Kosmos Holding director, announced the Queens League, a competition for women. From May 2023, Queens League matches will be played on Saturdays, ahead of Kings League matches on Sundays. Former Spanish players like

Priscila Borja Priscila Borja Moreno (born 28 April 1985) is a former Spanish footballer who played as a winger or forward for Primera División club Madrid CFF. She previously was a member of the Spain women's national team. Club career Coming from the ra ...

and

Willy Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

offered themselves to join the Queens League. Ibai Llanos of Porcinos, was the first Kings League chairperson to confirm the creation of his women's team, Porcinas. Former player Borja Fernández offered to coach the team. The Queens League was officially launched on 24 February 2023, with all of the Kings League teams taking part in the new tournament; some have changed branding for the women's team, and some have introduced female streamers as chairpersons. Kings Cup On 10 February, Pique announced on ChupChup (a stream about Kings League hosted by Piqué, Querol and Kings League chairmen) that a tournament would take place later on in the year, which was eventually labelled as the "Kings Cup". It consisted of the 12 teams being put into two groups, with the best four finishing teams of each group advancing to the single elimination stage of the tournament. The inaugural edition of the Kings Cup started on 10 September 2023 and culminated on 14 October with Ultimate Mostoles defeating Los Troncos in the final.

Prince Cup

On 10 February, the creation of a small tournament for kids during August and December was announced on ChupChup, with Piqué comparing this tournament to LaLiga Promises. The inaugural edition of the Prince Cup started on 31 August 2023, and culminated on 3 September with Los Troncos FC defeating Jijantes FC in the final.

Kingdom Cup

The Kingdom Cup is a mixed competition among the Kings and Queens League clubs in which one half of the match is played by the Kings League teams and the other half is played by the Queens League teams. The inaugural tournament was announced to begin on 29 October 2023 and conclude with its finals on 25 November 2023. The inaugural tournament concluded on 25 November 2023 with Porcinos FC defeating Ultimate Mostoles in the final.

Fantasy League

Kings League has an official

fantasy league A fantasy sport (also known less commonly as rotisserie or roto) is a game, often played using the Internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete bas ...

, sponsored by ''Kolex''.

Other countries and the Kings World Cup

Américas Kings League

In March 2023, Oriol Querol stated that the goal was to expand the Kings League format to multiple countries, with the hope of organizing a Kings League world championship featuring the best teams from each region by autumn 2024. An international competition was realized ahead of this schedule, with the inaugural Kings World Cup set to take place from May to June 2024 in

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. During the ChupChup livestream on 14 July 2023, Querol announced the creation of the Américas Kings League, a competition with teams from Spanish-speaking countries across the American continent, which began play in 2024 in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. During the Kings & Queens Finals event on 29 July, it was revealed that Mexican footballer

Javier Hernández Javier Hernández Balcázar (; born 1 June 1988), commonly known by the nickname Chicharito (, Mexican Spanish: ''little pea''), is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy. He is known ...

would be chairman of a team in the league.

Kings League World Cup

On November 7, 2023, a new tournament was announced, tentatively named the Kings League World Cup. It was announced as featuring 20 teams from the Kings League, with 10 teams from Spain and 10 from the Americas, along with teams from other countries, totaling 32 teams. The competition is scheduled to start after the first split of 2024 and will culminate in a final on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Following the announcement, it was confirmed that former Sweden striker

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

would preside over the competition. The first two teams external to the existing competitions in Latin America and Spain were two Brazilian teams on March 9th, 2024: G3nerationX FC (G3X FC for short) led by streamer Gaules and FURIA FC headed by streamer O Estagiario of Esports organization Furia Esports and former futsal player Alessandro Rosa Vieira ( Falcão) in collaboration with Brazilian international

Neymar Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), known as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Sain ...

. More entries were later added: * March 18, 2024 – Two additional European teams were announced: Team Amine (later named Foot2Rue) from France led by streamer AmineMaTue and Youniors FC of Germany led by streamer Younes Zarou and

Mario Götze Mario Götze (born 3 June 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Germany national team. Although his favoured position is that of a playmaker, Götze has also played as a false nin ...

, the goalscorer of the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final for Germany. * March 25, 2024 – Two more European teams were announced: English team FIVE FC led by retired

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and England defender

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and was ...

and Jeremy Lynch of the

F2Freestylers The F2Freestylers, also known as The F2, are a British freestyle football duo comprising former amateur footballers Billy Wingrove and Jeremy Lynch. They are best known for their YouTube channel which has over 13 million subscribers. Early c ...

, and Belgian team Deptostra FC led by TikToker Céline Dept and retired

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and Belgium winger

Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, Hazard is considered o ...

. * April 1, 2024 – Two Asian teams were announced: Murash FC, led by Japanese YouTuber

Junichi Kato is a Japanese former rower. He competed in the men's eight event at the 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victori ...

, and SXB FC, led by

Saudi Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...

YouTuber SHoNgxBоNg and retired Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia forward

Yasser Al-Qahtani Yasser Saeed Al-Qahtani ( ar, ياسر سعيد القحطاني; born 10 October 1982) is a former Saudi footballer who played as a forward for Al-Hilal FC in the Saudi Professional League. He was also captain of the Saudi Arabia national tea ...

. * April 8, 2024 – Italian team Stallions was announced, led by Italian streamer Blur (Tumblurr) and retired

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

player

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played solely for A.S. Roma, Roma and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. He is often referred to as ''Er Bim ...

, a

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

winner with Italy. * April 15, 2024 – Turkish team Limon FC was announced, led by streamer Elraenn. * April 22, 2024 – The penultimate team was announced: Ukrainian team UA Steel, led by Ukrainian streamer Mykhailo Lebiha (Leb1ga) and retired

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

and Ukraine striker and 2004 Ballon d'Or winner

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, or Andrii Mykolaiovych Shevchenko ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian football manager, a former professional football player and a former politici ...

. * May 6, 2024 – During the initial tournament draw, the last invited president was revealed as Columbian singer and rapper

Maluma Juan Luis Londoño Arias (born 28 January 1994), known professionally as Maluma, is a Colombian singer, songwriter, and actor. Born and raised in Medellín, he developed an interest in music at a young age, recording songs since age sixteen. ...

with his team Medallo City. The Kings World Cup officially began on Sunday, May 26, 2024 with Saiyans FC beating Youniors FC 2–0 in the opening match. The tournament was played in its initial phase in

. The so called 'Final Four' changed its location and was held at the

Estadio BBVA The Estadio BBVA, nicknamed "El Gigante de Acero" (Spanish for "The Steel Giant"), formerly known as the Estadio BBVA Bancomer, is a stadium developed by FEMSA and C.F. Monterrey in Guadalupe, Greater Monterrey. The stadium replaced the Estadio Te ...

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, where the team led by streamer

became the champion after defeating the Brazilian team G3X FC, directed by streamer Gaules, 5–3 in the final.

Kings League Italia

Before Stallions' opening match in the Kings World Cup against Medallo City, Blur presented a trailer revealing that Italy would host the third incarnation of the Kings League after the original in Spain and the second in Latin America. Ibrahimović, who played for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

and

, was also announced as the league president and a 2024 date was given.

Kings League Brazil

Retired Barcelona, AC Milan and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

player

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

, the 2005

Ballon d’Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (fo ...

winner and

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

winner with Brazil, featured as a 12th player for Porcinos in Week 8 of the Season 1 Winter Split. On 26 February, shortly before his appearance, Gerard Piqué announced him as the chairman of one of the teams for the upcoming Brazilian version of the league.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteOfficial Twitch chanel
Football leagues in Spain Football competitions in Barcelona 2022 establishments in Spain Sports leagues established in 2022 Seven-a-side football competitions