David, Iñaki and Joel jump onto the Camp Nou pitch with a nervous smile. From a privileged point of view, at the foot of the field, they contemplate the stands that surround the pitch. This Sunday you will not need to imagine it full. They will have the possibility to verify it in first person. The eccentric Kings League offers them, and dozens of anonymous players until just a few months ago, experience something unimaginable. The project devised by Gerard Piqué puts the icing on the cake for his first part of the season on the same stage where he said goodbye to Barça. He is now back with a football proposal based on entertainment that will crown for the first time a team from the 7-a-side football league led by streamers of the stature of Ibai Llanos or ex-soccer players like Kun Agüero or Iker Casillas.
The offer is aimed above all at a young audience, according to Piqué, who hates the classic format of the sport and needs new stimuli. The success has been absolute, with audience figures (the highest peak occurred with Ronaldinho on the field, with 2.1 million connected users) that have even exceeded the expectations of Kosmos, the tournament organizer. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have been hooked on Twitch every Sunday this year to follow the competition.
Before the final four at the Camp Nou (more than 83,000 tickets have been sold), the eight qualified for the playoffs will play their way to the semifinals today. “There will be tension, because we are facing something that we would not have imagined even in our wildest dreams,” explains Iñaki Villalba. “If an empty stadium is already imposing, what should it be like to play with the public!” exclaimed the XBuyer Team footballer at the match organized by La Vanguardia.
His teammate Joel Bañuls remembers that at least one of the three will have to watch from the stands, as they face Los Troncos, David Soriano’s club. “Anyone would like to have the possibility that is offered to us.”
With just a few minutes at Castelldefels, from the Tercera RFEF, the appearance of the Kings League was holy water for David. He signed up for the draft and, like Joel and Iñaki, among more than 1,300 applicants he was among the 120 selected. His coach considered that they were incompatible issues and told him that he had to choose. And he chose the Kings League, which by contract only requires that he be available in matches.”It was a different bet that allowed me to continue competing.”
Like the vast majority of these boys who come from Catalan regional football, his idea was to combine training sessions and matches with the two teams, but it was not possible. It was also difficult at first for Joel at Mataró due to the impossibility of attending home games. “I told the coach that I was opting for the Kings League because it was a unique opportunity. I went from playing in the Catalan Primera to playing with ex-soccer players in a highly visible tournament”. The support of his teammates and the entity itself was key for him to be able to rejoin Mataró immediately. Since then, he has played as many games as he can.
The one who juggles to be everywhere is Iñaki. Horta usually plays on Sundays. By doing it early, he tries to double, although almost always against the clock; like the day he played at half past four in the afternoon in Tàrrega and, thanks to a friend, he flew to arrive a quarter of an hour earlier for the other match.
From the Federation, they point out that they have not received any complaints from the clubs, although a hypothetical increase in commitment by the Kings League or greater financial compensation -they currently receive 70 euros a week, an amount that will increase- in the future could be a problem for modest football. “Next season the level will go up. Now there are many more people interested in playing, seeing the success it has had. Everyone on my team wants to sign up,” reveals Joel.
