Viral goal puts Gerard Pique's women's soccer league in the spotlight
Viral goal puts Gerard Pique's women's soccer league in the spotlight
In five touches down the short indoor field, Antonela Romoleroux entered the social media feeds of millions. The 21-year-old daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants went viral this week, scoring the 'most-watched goal on social media in women's soccer' when she found the back of the net for PIO FC in Gerard Piqué's seven-a-side Queens League in Spain.
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'Three hundred million people watching a goal from a female player, commenting, celebrating, this shows the power of the Queens League platform and the potential audience for the women's game,' Piqué told .
Since the goal, Romoleroux's Instagram following has skyrocketed from 5,000 to nearly 40,000. Her muted reaction to scoring was as unconventional as her journey to professional soccer and the league she has played in since 2023.
Growing up in Sabadell, half an hour outside Barcelona, she honed her skills battling her brothers and her father, a former professional player from Ecuador's Club Deportivo Cuenca in impromptu home games.
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'The only people I looked up to growing up playing soccer were my brothers and my father,' she told . 'I just wanted to be as good as them.'
Despite the family tradition, Romoleroux never dreamt of becoming a professional until her friends urged her to try out for Queens League, a new competition that took social media by storm in 2023. A lifelong Barcelona fan, she was surprised when she received an email saying the league had selected her.
Piqué founded the league after noticing a younger generation – including his sons Milan (12) and Sasha (10) – losing interest in traditional 90-minute soccer matches. Along with his friend, Spanish YouTuber Ibai Llanos, the former Manchester United, Barcelona and Spain defender set out to create a format that could bring that audience to the game by combining the best parts of soccer and social media.
The league hosted the inaugural event for the Kings League, the men's counterpart to the Queens League, at Piqué's beloved Camp Nou, Barcelona's historic 90,000-seat home ground, in front of a sold-out crowd. Queens League played the final of the first season in Madrid's Metropolitano stadium, home of Atlético Madrid, a few months later.
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'We knew that our format made the women's soccer even more exciting,' Piqué said. 'We created both leagues at the same time because we could.'
The leagues are designed to maximize entertainment, with features such as wild-card rules, which allow teams to draw bonuses including penalties or goal multipliers. The format also offers fans direct access to the players, from the locker room to the pitch. Spectators can also influence game-time decisions by voting. The 40-minute games can't end in a tie, instead, a golden goal determines the winner in those situations.
The leagues are structured similarly to U.S. sports with 12 franchises, on both the men's and women's sides, and follow a playoff model to decide the champions.
Teams are owned and operated by a mixture of soccer legends, including Argentine soccer star Sergio Agüero, Spain's World Cup-winning goalkeeper Iker Casillas and streamers with millions of followers, like Mexican influencer Llanos and Rivers, the most viewed female streamer on Twitch.
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The leagues have since expanded to Mexico, Italy, and Brazil—where soccer stars Neymar and Kaká, along with popular streamer Casimiro and Grammy-winning musician Ludmilla, have joined as team owners.
While there are no plans to slow down global growth, the league is not currently intending to increase the number of franchises, which is capped at 12 per country.
Romoleroux's goal has been viewed over 300 million times and the league says it is the 'most-watched goal in women's soccer history'. It adds to the league's significant impressions across social media. They expect to hit 25 billion impressions by the end of 2025 — numbers that have caught the eye of U.S. investors.
In 2024, Left Lane Capital led a €60million ($62m) investment to fuel the league's international expansion. The New York City-based venture-capital firm has been active in sports, backing League One Volleyball's (LOVB) $35m Series B and a $100m funding round in LOVB led by Atwater Capital with Ares Management. Other recent investments include $15m in Shaun White's Snow League snowboarding tour, €10m in chess legend Magnus Carlsen and entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner's Freestyle Chess and $10m for Pro Padel League, alongside Kactus Capital, businessman Gary Vaynerchuk, Epic Padel and HIG Capital founder Tony Tamer's family office.
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According to league officials, franchises in Spain generate between $500,000 and $2.5million in annual revenue. Each franchise covers the salaries of its three wildcard players – similar to designated players in Major League Soccer – coaching staff and practice field, while the league funds the salaries of 240 players —120 me, 120 women — ensuring equal pay across the board. Players, including Romoleroux, receive €200 per match.
Though she never planned to go pro, Romoleroux said she 'won't mind becoming a professional player if (teams) come to me with a serious offer.'
'It was an incredible moment, not just for Antonela but for women's soccer,' Piqué said of her goal. 'Young players around the world will be inspired by it. This is the sort of impact we dreamed about when we started the Queens League.'
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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