Kings League

The  Kings League (officially known as the Kings League InfoJobs since November 2023 due to sponsorship reasons) is a seven-a-side football league in Barcelona 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-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 (NASL) in the 1970s and 1980s and then in Major League Soccer (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 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 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 have a draft and trade system based on North American sports. The trading system uses a virtual economy 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, 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. 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 and FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that the semifinals and final of the winter (inaugural) split playoffs would be held as a Final Four event at the Camp Nou, the home ground of FC Barcelona, 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 on the league's official Twitch, YouTube and TikTok 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 would air the Winter Split playoffs final, held on 26 March, live on its main channel TV3.

On 3 May 2023, Gerard Piqué announced an agreement with Mediaset España that would see the 8 p.m. game of each match day of both the Kings and Queens League air on Cuatro, starting with the opening match day of the Summer Split later that week.

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 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 forward Nano Mesa, a free agent at the time.

La Liga president Javier Tebas 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 and Real Madrid Femenino. 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. 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 defended the league during a live chat with Porcinos FC chairman Ibai Llanos, 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 side FE Grama called for the Kings League to be subjected to formal regulations after Porcinos FC and xBuyer Team triggered the buyout clause 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.

Season 1 (2023)
On 28 December 2022, the league rebranded to include the name of main sponsor InfoJobs, a classifieds web service owned by Schibsted.

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.

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 and Willy 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, sponsored by Kolex.

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.

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

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, 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 and England defender Rio Ferdinand and Jeremy Lynch of the F2Freestylers, and Belgian team Deptostra FC led by TikToker Céline Dept and retired Lille, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Belgium winger Eden Hazard.


 * April 1, 2024 – Two Asian teams were announced: Murash FC, led by Japanese YouTuber Junichi Kato, and SXB FC, led by Saudi YouTuber SHoNgxBоNg and retired Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia forward Yasser Al-Qahtani.


 * April 8, 2024 – Italian team Stallions was announced, led by Italian streamer Blur (Tumblurr) and retired AS Roma player Francesco Totti, a 2006 World Cup 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 and Ukraine striker and 2004 Ballon d'Or winner Andriy Shevchenko.


 * May 6, 2024 – During the initial tournament draw, the last invited president was revealed as Columbian singer and rapper Maluma 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 Mexico City. The so called 'Final Four' changed its location and was held at the Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, where the team led by streamer Ibai Llanos 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, Inter Milan and AC Milan, was also announced as the league president and a 2024 date was given.

Kings League Brazil
Retired Barcelona, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain player Ronaldinho, the 2005 Ballon d’Or winner and 2002 World Cup 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.