On the sidelines of the announcement of his retirement from sport, Gerard Piqué embarked alongside streamer Ibai Llanos in an unprecedented project with the creation of the Kings League. If currently, the competition with atypical rules imagined from scratch by the former FC Barcelona defender only has 12 teams made up of 7 players with a recruitment method inspired by the American draft, the Spaniard plans to give more scope to his project. In effect, Mundo Deportivo reports this Saturday that the ex-Manchester United player is considering joining more teams and seems to want to explore the market in France and Italy at the start of 2024.
“After exploring the most important or priority markets for us, we decided to turn to America, Brazil, France and Italy. These countries have things in common: they all love football and all have a large community of streamers, and that’s how we were born and how we want to continue. France and Italy are both targets for 2024. I don’t know if it will be in the beginning or maybe in the second quarter, but that’s where the discussions are most advanced, and I would say that it could be some last minute surprises”, he explained to the Spanish media before adding that the expansion of the Kings League “in England and Germany will probably be postponed to 2025”. As a reminder, the competition broadcast exclusively on the Twitch platform is the subject of controversy. While some former football glories like Iker Casillas or Sergio Aguëro showed their enthusiasm when it was launched, others like LaLiga president Javier Tebas called it a “circus”.
