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Anything goes in the Kings League
Imagine football with goals counting double, endless substitutions and joker cards.
Welcome to the Kings League, external – a seven-a-side football format that could be heading to the UK soon.
As former Barcelona and Manchester United defender – and founder of the competition – Gerard Pique describes it: "It is football but it is not football."
In an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Euro Leagues, Pique explained: "Last year was the first edition and it went really well – a lot of games had more audience than La Liga.
"We are open to everyone. In 2024, we have expanded, we have organised the first World Cup, which will happen in May.
"Teams from Spain and America will compete but we have given wildcards to presidents from teams in other countries, where we want to open a league pretty soon and one of those is in the UK. Rio Ferdinand will have a team.
"We have Neymar owning a team from Brazil, we have Francesco Totti with an Italian team. Eden Hazard will play for a Belgian team. The idea is this World Cup will be very disruptive and for two weeks – before the Euros – there is no other fooball, so everyone will want to watch."
Euro Leagues: Gerard Pique special
There are 12 teams, who play 11 games each – all on Sundays in the same venue in Barcelona – before play-offs to decide the winner.
Each team has 12 players, a mix of influencers and former footballers – with 10 chosen through drafts and two guests selected by each president. Iker Casillas and Sergio Aguero both run teams in the league.
Games last 40 minutes and go to a 'penalty shootout' if drawn – a one-on-one format with the goalkeeper.
Brazil icon Ronaldinho, former Mexico striker Javier Hernandez, who still plays professional football for Guadalajara, former Argentina forwards Aguero and Javier Saviola are among the biggest football names to compete in it.
A masked player called Enigma made headlines last year with claims it could be a famous player – but it turned out to be Nano Mesa.
The rules are what really makes it stand apart though.
Before a match, both teams select a card at random, each one has a secret weapon – which they can play between half-time and the 38th minute.
They are…
Double goal – for four minutes any goals the team that plays the card score count double
Sanction – a team can choose an opposition player who has to come off for four minutes.
Penalty – a team who play this card get a penalty
Penalty shootout – a team who play this card get a 'penalty' like in a shootout where a player has a one-on-one with the keeper
Star player – one player is given an armband to show he is the star player. If he scores a goal it will count double, then the secret weapon is over.
Wildcard – a team can activate any of the other cards, or steal their opponents' card
"It has to be competitive but it has to be a show," said Pique, who won the World Cup with Spain in 2010.
"The rules are sometimes voted for by the people through Twitter. For example the artificial grass is now black and the presidents are allowed to shoot a penalty during the game. The presidents are creators of content, streamers or legends of football.
"We wanted to change the rules because we wanted something fun, competitive and something that could be a show. Football is the king of sports but we wanted to create a different product.
"It isn't all about the result, winning and fighting. It worked very well, we are very happy and we want to expand. Soon you will have it here [the UK] I hope."
Gerard Pique (second left) runs the league
"There are a few reasons why," the 37-year-old said.
"At the time I was playing for Barcelona and we were doing different events with the biggest streamer in Spain and Latin America – Ibai.
"I was having dinner with him in a restaurant In Barcelona and two kids came to me said ‘Gerard can you take a picture’ – I said yes, then they saw Ibai and started to scream like crazy.
"Streamers do content six hours a day, they have a lot of followers and they explain absolutely everything about their lives. This means all the fans feel they are their friends, so when they see him they feel he is a friend."
Pique, who also owns Spanish second-tier side FC Andorra, continued: "The second reason is because I believe the relationship between the players and fans in football now is more distant.
"Players are more protected. Clubs don’t allow them to do a lot of interviews because they don’t want them not focused on football or to say a headline they didn’t want said.
"Players just talk after the game, say always the same and for the fan it is difficult to know the player.
"There is no content about them and what we wanted was a product that was just the opposite. All the players playing in our league have social media accounts and in constant communication with the fans, plus the president, plus the coach. They are becoming really famous."
To listen to the full interview, including more on Pique's career, listen to the Euro Leagues show on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds at 22:00 BST on Wednesday.
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