When it comes to footballers and businessmen, gone are the days where the players would live hand-to-mouth after their retirement. They have become extremely business savvy, leveraging their humongous earnings during their playing career to set themselves up nicely for retirement life.
Perhaps no other player symbolises that new age of the business-minded footballer more than Gerard Pique.
As the head of Kosmos, not only does he have his own football club FC Andorra, which FootTheBall covered exclusively with inside access, but he also has various other business ventures thriving and potential, with his personality, a political role waiting for him at FC Barcelona too.
However, how would it sound if one were to say that even a role at FC Barcelona wouldn’t be the crown jewel of his empire? Sounds a bit of a reach and an exaggeration, but that’s exactly what Kings League is.
It’s often said that evolution is constantly changing the answer to a problem to make it better but revolution is altering the question being asked altogether. Kings League is Gerard Pique’s revolution.
Here’s a dive into the crown jewel of Pique’s business empire.
What is Kings League?
When there is a race amongst billionaires to snap up football clubs as the live sports economy looks to be the only segment of the market immune to a bubble bursting, Pique got in on the act as well.
He bought FC Andorra, recognising the potential of having a whole country’s representative club. He has seen success with them two, with promotions having them in the second tier now. However, his true ambition came alive with Kings League.
Kings League is a seven-a-side football tournament based in Barcelona pioneered by Pique.
At its heart, Kings League can be summed up as “street football commercialised” but that would be underselling the genius of it all.
As per Joe Pompliano, an expert in sports and business, Pique and his business partners bought an abandoned warehouse in Barcelona in 2022. They held open tryouts to scout for the best talent. So far, so conventional.
Then came the revolution. Club presidents batting for the Super League have long said that a major gripe of theirs with modern football is that the 90-minute game is no longer enough to keep the attention of the newer generation. Enter Kings League, a 40-minute game.
Fan participation has been at the heart of the league from the beginning. Its set of rules was created through a voting process conducted on social media…
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