Kings League

The Kings League follows an Apertura and Clausura-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, and 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, and are played consecutively on the same ground.[3]

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.[4] Prospective players underwent physical and skill testing before the top prospects were allocated to teams. Each team selected ten players, with two additional roster slots reserved for guest players, such as footballers or streamers, who are known as the 11th Player and 12th Player. The 12th Player can change on each match day, the 11th Player is meant to stay with the team for the entire season.[5]

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.

These rules include a tie-breaker penalty shootout from the center 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 center of the field and players starting from the back line, player numbers ranging from 0 to 99, 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. These secret weapons include a penalty kick in their favor, a shootout in their favor, the exclusion of an opposing player for 2 minutes, a double goal for 2 minutes, a wildcard, and the ability to steal an opposing team's secret weapon card.[2]

Kings League teams have the possibility to invite one guest player (the "12th Player") each matchday.[6]

The Kings League is being held at the Cupra Arena, located in the port of Barcelona. The Cupra Arena is part of the Logistics Activities Area (ZAL in Spanish) of the Port of Barcelona.[7] On 20 January 2023, Gerard Piqué and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that the semifinals and final of the winter split playoffs would be held as a 'Final Four' event at the Camp Nou, the home ground of FC Barcelona, on 26 March 2023.[8]

All matches of the Kings League will be available for live streaming on the league's official Twitch, YouTube and TikTok channels, as well as on the individual channels of the team chairpersons, and it will be free for viewers to watch.[9]

The tournament reached an average audience of 450,000 viewers in the first round, peaking at 780,000 viewers. In the second round, the average audience grew to 558,200 viewers, with a peak of 945,000 viewers. And in the third round, a match gathered more than 1.3 million people.[10]

On 13 March 2023, it was announced that Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya would air the Winter Split playoffs final, slated for 26 March, live on its main channel TV3.[11]

The Kings League has been met with mixed reactions from fans and critics alike. 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.[12]

Additionally, the second matchday featured a mysterious player for XBUYER TEAM wearing a lucha libre mask and body-covering gear, known only as "Enigma." Despite speculation that the player could be a well-known professional, the identity of Enigma remains unknown; however, it is speculated that he could be former Cádiz forward Nano Mesa, who is currently a free agent.[13]

La Liga president Javier Tebas has criticized the Kings League, calling it a "circus." However, Kings League president Gerard Piqué defended the league, stating that in order to attract a younger audience, the league must create shorter and more entertaining content. He also argued that if matches are to be 90 minutes long, the league "should at least introduce more stimulating rules."[14][15]

All teams have an "11th Player" who usually is a former professional football player and a "12th Player", a guest player who can be different for each match date

Team	Manager	Chairperson
1K FC	Julio García Mera	Iker Casillas
Aniquiladores FC	Sergio Verdirame	Juan Guarnizo
El Barrio	Juan Arroita	Adri Contreras
Jijantes FC	Marc Carmona	Gerard Romero
Kunisports	Martín Posse	Sergio Agüero
Los Troncos FC	Pol Font	Jaume Cremades (Perxitaa)
PIO FC	TBA	Samy Rivera (Rivers)
Porcinos FC	Juvenal	Ibai Llanos
Rayo de Barcelona	Efrén Guillén	Martí Miràs (Spursito)
Saiyans FC	Daniel Romo	David Cánovas (TheGrefg)
Ultimate Móstoles	Nacho Castro	Mario Alonso (DjMaRiiO)
XBUYER TEAM	Víctor González	Javier (xBuyer) and Eric Ruiz (MiniBuyer)

The inaugural season began on 1 January 2023 with the inaugural matchday of the Winter Split, which concluded on 26 March 2023 with El Barrio defeating Aniquiladores FC in the final to claim the title. The Summer Split is set to begin on 7 May 2023.

On 26 February 2023, shortly before Ronaldinho featured as 12th player, Kings League chairman Gerard Piqué announced him as the chairman of one of the teams for the upcoming Brazilian version of the league.[23]

On March 2023, league CEO Oriol Querol stated that they had a goal to expand the Kings League format to multiple countries, in the hopes to organize a Kings League world championship with the best teams from each region as early as fall 2024.

• Media football

• Official website
• Official Twitch chanel