Piqué's Kings League is Here for This Year's Riyadh Season

Football is being reimagined in new formats that experiment with everything from match rules to how teams are built and broadcast. Amongst them is the Kings League, which began in Spain before expanding into a global network of regional leagues and international tournaments. It has now reached the Middle East and North Africa, with 10 teams taking part, including one representing Egypt.

What Even is the Kings League?

It's a seven-a-side football competition where squads mix current and former players with influencers. The league aims to break away from traditional football and offer a faster, higher-tempo game that attracts a younger audience.

Who Created the Kings League?

The league was the brainchild of former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Piqué and famous Spanish internet star Ibai Llanos. And having organised the Balloon World Cup in 2021 together, this isn’t their first collaborative project.

How Are Players Selected?

Each team has a 12-player squad. In the first edition, for example, the first 10 players were picked by a draw streamed on Twitch in late 2022, from applicants who signed up in November of that year. Teams can add other players, usually former professionals, though current players are also allowed. The 11th player must stay with the same team all season, while the 12th can change from week to week.

What Are the Rules?

Before the match, each team randomly picks one of five ‘golden cards’ and can use it at any point during the game. The golden cards are essentially ‘secret weapons’ that help the teams gain tactical advantages during the game. Both teams keep their cards secret, so neither knows which one the opponent chose.

The match starts with players from both teams running from their own goal lines toward the centre of the pitch to win the ball placed at the midpoint.

Teams can make unlimited substitutions. A player who receives a yellow or red card is sent to a penalty area, meaning they must leave the pitch for a short time. A yellow card means two minutes in the penalty area, and a red card means five minutes off the pitch.

Matches can't end in a draw. If scores are equal, the game goes to a shootout, but not from the penalty spot. Instead, the player runs with the ball from the halfway line before shooting at goal, as similarly done in ice hockey.

VARs are also used during matches, but the teams decide when to use it, not the referee. Each team can request one review per match. If the review succeeds, the team keeps the right to use VAR again. If it fails, they can't request it again.

Matches last 40 minutes, in two 20-minute halves.

Who Are the Team Presidents?

Teams are led by a mix of former professional players, content creators and online celebrities. Each president chooses their team's name and designs its logo.

Which Countries Are Included in the League?

The global system includes seven regional men's leagues: Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Middle East and North Africa (Kings League MENA), Mexico and Spain. There are also two women's leagues (Queens League) in Mexico and Spain, plus international tournaments, including the Kings World Cup Clubs and Kings World Cup Nations.

Kings League MENA: The Where & the When

The first round runs from September 18th to October 30th at Kol Arena, Riyadh Boulevard. It's the first full season of the regional competition, which expands to 10 teams after an opening edition last year with eight.

Participating Teams (Current Edition)

Saudi Arabia has three teams: DR7, led by Drb7h; RA 2, led by Raed; and Rising Peaks, led by Abdulrahman Alshehri. Qatar has ABO FC, led by Abo Flah. Kuwait has FWZ, led by Fawaz. Egypt has Turbo, led by Tarboun. Morocco has two teams: Bakhira FC, led by Younes Zaroo and Achraf Sabiri, and Ultra Chmicha, led by Elias El Malki. Jordan also has two: 3BS, led by Absi, and Red Zone, led by Mahirko.

Kings League, The MENA Format

The first stage is a single round-robin: each of the 10 teams plays every other team once, over nine matches. The team that tops the table goes straight to the semi-finals. The remaining semi-final places are decided by three quarter-final knockouts: 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th, and 4th vs 5th. The competition closes with a Final Four on October 30, when both semi-finals and the final are played on the same day at Kol Arena.

Tickets

Tickets are sold through Webook. Each match night is split into three time slots: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and 11:00 PM to midnight. Fans can buy tickets for any slot, and 1,300 tickets are available per slot.

Where You Can Watch It

Fans across the region can watch every match for free on the personal channels of the team presidents, as well as the league's official channels on Kick, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch. MBC Group, the official broadcast partner, will show matches live on MBC Action and the Shahid streaming platform.