Kings League


The Kings League is a seven-a-side football format established in 2022 by former player Gerard Piqué. The format, originally introduced in Spain, features rules that differ from traditional football regulations, such as a tie-breaker penalty shootout, unlimited substitutions, and the implementation of secret weapons, to add an element of dynamism and entertainment to the games.
As of 2025, Kings League has expanded with leagues in Hispanic America, Italy, Brazil, France and Germany, the Middle East and North Africa region and with plans to expand into the United States.

Format

2023-2025

The Kings League follows an Apertura and Clausura-style format in which each season is divided into two splits: the Winter Split and the Summer Split. Both splits have their league stage and playoffs. During the league stage, the teams, which may vary in each league from eight to twelve, face every other team once for anywhere between seven and eleven matchdays. Based on their rankings at the end of the league stage, the top seven or ten teams, depending on league size, advance to the playoffs. Each matchday features four to six forty-minute matches, divided into two twenty-minute halves, played consecutively on the same ground. The top teams in each league, either via winning one of the splits, an aggregate table, or the top finishers in the playoffs of the most recent split, qualify for the Kings World Cup Clubs at the end of the campaign, officially acting as the world championship for all Kings League teams.

2025–present

Starting from the 2025/26 season. The two splits format have been replaced with a Cup tournament in the winter, named the Kings Cup, and the League in summer.
Each of the active leagues will have their own Kings Cup, starting with a Group stage, followed with a knockout stage, and the winners of the national cups advance to the continental Kings Cup finals, Kings Cup Europe and Kings Cup America, and the winners of the continental Kings Cup qualify to the Kings World Cup Clubs

Draft and market

The Kings League and Queens League have a draft and trade system based on North American sports. For the inaugural season of Kings League Spain, players were given the opportunity to apply and were selected through a draft process. Prospective players underwent physical and skill testing before the top prospects were drafted. Each team can have twelve players on the roster: the draft involved selecting ten players, with the two additional roster slots reserved for guest players. These players are known as the 11th and 12th Players, usually footballers or streamers. The 12th player can change on each match day, while the 11th player was meant to stay with the team for the entire season. Additional drafts are held at the start of each season for each league to add new players.
The trading system uses a virtual economy in which the league supplies teams a fixed amount of "Euros". Players can be exchanged for "Euros", but no real currency is involved. The drafts and markets are held over a similar period. The first Kings League Spain transfer window in April 2023 consisted of buyout clauses and bidding options. It was held in a one-day live event. The combined Kings and Queens League Spain market ahead of the 2024 season, held as a one-week transfer window, instead used simple asset exchanges as the means of trade. For the 2025/26 season, The transfer season length will span for a month in February 2026, with each player will have a market value, and teams will be able to buy and sell players with real money, ending the virtual economy.

Rules

The Kings League's rules were created through a social media voting process. Fans were given the opportunity to contribute and vote on the rules.
The unconventional rules include a tie-breaker penalty shootout from the center of the field, the use of offsides, the allowance of handballs for throw-ins, unlimited substitutions, yellow cards resulting in a 2-minute exclusion, and red cards resulting in a 5-minute exclusion until a substitute can enter. The game starts with the ball in the center of the field and players starting from the back line. Games are divided into two 20-minute halves, and special "secret weapons" are included that each team can use once per game from halftime up until the end. These secret weapons include the following:
  • Penalty – An automatic penalty kick.
  • Shoot-out – A penalty scenario where the player starts from midfield and has a one-on-one breakaway with the opposing goalkeeper. The player must shoot within five seconds but can make as many moves as possible in up to five seconds between starting that breakaway and taking the shot. As mentioned, penalty shootouts to break ties also use this format. This variation originated in the United States and was used in first the North American Soccer League in the 1970s and 1980s and then in Major League Soccer for its first four seasons.
  • Double Goal—The team playing the card has its goals count double for the next 4 minutes, excluding President Penalties.
  • Suspension – The team playing the card can remove an opposing player from the field for 4 minutes.
  • Star Player – The team playing the card can designate a player as their Star Player, signified by an armband similar to a captain's armband—all goals from this player up until the 39th-minute count double.
  • Reverse Penalty - when the card is used, the opposing team gets a penalty, if they score, the goal doesn't count, but if they miss, it counts as a goal for the team that played the card
  • Joker – The team can activate one of the other cards or alternately cancel or steal the opposing team's card.
Each team is also given an opportunity for their chairman to take a penalty kick, known as a President Penalty. These can be used once per team at any time during the match from the 6th minute up until the end. If a team's chairman is not present or declines to take the penalty, the President Penalty instead turns into a shoot-out taken by one of the players.
Player numbers can also range from 0 to 99.
Late in the 2023 Winter Split, the "league cards" were introduced, reducing the number of players on the pitch for the last two minutes of the first half, temporarily turning the match into a one-on-one, two-a-side, three-a-side, four-a-side, five-a-side or six-a-side game. The cards would later be replaced by a giant dice, which was rolled onto the pitch at the 18-minute mark. The six-a-side option was replaced with a variation of the one-on-one game featuring an outfield player and a goalkeeper who is not allowed to leave the box. This would be changed in the 2025 Winter split, as the five-a-side, four-a-side and one-on-one options would be eliminated; the three-a-side, two-a-side and one-on-one with goalkeeper spots would each get two faces.
Starting with the 2023 Summer Split, it was decided that goals would have double worth for both teams beginning in the 39th minute. It was amended for the Kings Cup so that if the score were tied at the end of the 38th minute, the game would switch to a golden goal instead of the double goal rule: if either team scores in that period, the match ends immediately; otherwise, the teams have to proceed to the penalty shoot-out. The double-goal rule applies in any scenario other than a tied score in the 38th minute.

2025/26 new rules

Match structure change

On 12 October 2025, the match structure have been changed for the first time in 2 years, and the following changes are :
  • from the 5th minute onwards, the secret cards are enabled
  • The double goal period now moves for the final 3 minutes of the first half
  • The dice period moves to the start of the second half, and it lasts for 3 minutes, by the 23th minute, the remaining players return for the 7v7 match up
  • By reaching the 36th minute, if the match is a tie, it goes straight to penalties shootout. If it's not, it goes to Matchball mode, a 5v5 descalator mode, where a player from each team is eliminated every minute, until reaching the 1v1 with goalies by the 40th minute onwards. If the leading team scores, the game ends, the losing team have the opportunity to turn the score and take the win without conceding.

    New secret card

On 7 October 2025, Kings League announced a voting poll on social media on which additional secret card to be included for the new season, the following options were :
  • Goalkeeper without hands : where for 2 minutes, the goalkeeper can't use his hand and plays like an outfield player
  • Reverse penalty : when the card is used, the opposing team gets a penalty, if they score, the goal doesn't count, but if they miss, it counts as a goal for the team that played the card
  • No Offside : the team that can activate this card can attack with no offisde calls for 4 minutes
  • Corner challenge : when the card is used, the team gets a chance to score from a corner kick with no opposing players and an empty net
By 12 October, fans voted on the reverse penalty as the new secret card, becoming the 7th new card in the Kings League universe

Draft and market

The Kings League and Queens League have a draft and trade system based on North American sports. The trading system uses a virtual economy in which the league supplies teams a fixed amount of "Euros". Players can be exchanged for "Euros", but no real currency is involved. The drafts and markets are held over a similar period. The first Kings League transfer window in April 2023 consisted of buyout clauses and bidding options. It was held in a one-day live event. The combined Kings and Queens League market ahead of the 2024 season, held as a one-week transfer window, instead used simple asset exchanges as the means of trade.

Broadcast

Kings League matches are available to watch for free through live streaming on the league's official Twitch, YouTube and TikTok channels, as well as on the individual channels of the team chairpersons.
The first Kings League Spain tournament achieved an average audience of 450,000 viewers in the first round, peaking at 780,000 viewers. In subsequent rounds, the viewership continued to grow significantly: in the second round, the average audience was 558,200 viewers, with a peak of 945,000 viewers; in the third round, a match was viewed by more than 1.3 million people.
On 13 March 2023, it was announced that Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya would air the Spain Winter Split playoffs final, held on 26 March, live on its main channel TV3.
On 3 May 2023, Gerard Piqué announced an agreement with Mediaset España that would see the 8 p.m. game of each match day of both the Kings and Queens League Spain air on Cuatro, starting with the opening match day of the Summer Split later that week.