Kings League: What is Gerard Pique's new competition and how does it work? | OneFootball

Gerard Pique hasn’t taken his foot off the gas since retiring from professional football.

The sporting world waved goodbye to one of the greatest defenders of the 21st century when Pique announced that his Barcelona journey had come to an end in November.

However, Pique is someone who has always had his finger in a lot of business-related pies, so it should come as no surprise that he’s still heavily involved in the beautiful game.

What is Pique’s Kings League?

Not only is the World Cup winner the owner of second-tier club FC Andorra, but he’s also making waves with his brand new Kings League.

According to ESPN, Pique announced his plans for the fascinating new competition just days after his retirement as part of a Twitch interview with popular Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos.

And now that 2023 has rolled around, the league has gotten underway and football fans around the world have been able to get a taste of what could be a revolutionary moment for the sport.

Pique himself has previously come out and said that football needs drastic changes in order to stay fresh, and his beautifully bonkers Kings League might perfectly illustrate what football needs.

That’s because, to put things simply, it’s absolutely wild with a series of dramatic rules, crazy stunts and big-name cameos frankly making it sound like compulsive viewing.

The top line of the Kings League is that it’s a seven-a-side tournament with 12 teams where each side has a squad of 12 players, the first 10 of which were drawn by a draft in December and the other two are essentially ringers.

The 11th player must be the same person for the entirety of the season, but the 12th player can change each week.

Javier Hernandez is the biggest name to have participated so far, though is unlikely to appear again given his LA Galaxy commitments, while Carles Planas, Joan Verdu, Alberto Bueno and World Cup winner Joan Capdevila are also amongst those to get involved.

Did a mystery La Liga player take part?

However, by far the juiciest stunt to have come out of the league so far is the inclusion of ‘ENIGMA69’, a mystery La Liga player whose identity had to be kept a secret.

The anonymous baller was decked out in a wrestling mask, as well as black sleeves and gloves, to make him unidentifiable with neither his club nor agent giving him permission to participate.

Fans made unfounded guesses that the mystery player might have been Isco or Denis Suarez as he got himself amongst the chaos of Pique’s new creation.

Oh, and the presidents of each team are a mixture of big names from the worlds of football and social media with Iker Casillas and Sergio Aguero overseeing Kunisports and 1K respectively.

It’s tough to keep up with all the carnage as the unique nature of the competition also extends to the crazy set of rules that represents Pique’s vision that football needs to evolve and adapt.

Thankfully, though, breaking down the minutiae of the madness, so be sure to check out his overview of some of the quirkier rules:

From the water polo-like kick-offs to the absolute anarchy of the golden card, it really does sound like Pique’s latest invention is one of the most innovative things to ever happen to football.

Video: Penalty shootouts in Pique’s Kings League

And while it’s hard to imagine that many of its tropes would ever feed into the mainstream, that doesn’t make it any less engrossing to watch as it hits viewers’ screens for free over on Twitch.

We’ve all imagined what would happen if the powers that be suddenly ripped up the footballing rule book and allow chaos to reign supreme, but I guess, in a way, we needn’t wonder anymore.