Latest news with #GerardPiqué
Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Shakira brings her she-wolf fierceness to the Toronto stop on her world tour
Shakira 3.5 stars (out of 4) Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Mon., May 26, 2025 Her career has spanned 30-plus years, and she has the accolades to show for it, though it's been seven years since Shakira embarked on a major tour. But recent events in the Colombian singer's personal life compelled her to release her 12th studio album and return to the stage with her 'Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran' ('Women No Longer Cry') tour, which stopped at Scotiabank Arena on Monday. Involved in a very public breakup with longtime partner Gerard Piqué, in 2023 the singer dropped 'Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,' a viral rap anthem whose lyric 'las mujeres no lloran las mujeres factura' ('women don't cry anymore, they cash in') struck a chord with female fans as a post-heartbreak manifesto. Now, the 'she wolf' is back on stage to reclaim her power and reunite with her pack. For her Toronto show, Shakira performed her most beloved numbers, from '90s deep cuts to recent chart-toppers. It took a bit of warming up to get there, though. After an hour's delay, a CGI Shakira avatar flashed on the video screens as the crowd, dressed in an explosion of leather, leopard skin and belly dance wraps, shrieked. Throughout the night, the avatar would serve to connect the narrative of her healing journey. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The singer entered the arena fight-night style. Making her way to the stage, she ascended from below on a platform with two deejays, suggesting that we'd just entered Club Shakira. For the first half of the show, she served up the essence of her recent foray into electronic dance music. She came across as a polished pop persona dressed in a shimmering pink outfit, performing perfectly synchronized choreography to such hits as 'TQG' and 'Te Felicito.' Interspersed among them, alt-rock-leaning singles like 'Inevitable' and 'Don't Bother' couldn't help but seem misplaced. The second half picked up momentum as Shakira ventured into her early-aughts material, such as her billion-streaming 'Hips Don't Lie.' Placing her best-known song mid-set felt tactical as it reinvigorated the crowd. Familiar favourites were reimagined with new arrangements: 'Chantaje,' her 2017 duet with Maluma, now had a salsa beat. The remixes allowed the performer to showcase her considerable dance skills; all eyes were on her hypnotic belly dance solos. And no, those hips did not stop moving the entire show. Fake Shakira currency rained down at the Toronto concert's end. Laura Palombi She finished the concert with the breakup anthem that kicked off this new chapter in her career, as a gigantic inflatable wolf was rolled out and loomed over the stage as her protector. As she sang, 'Women don't cry anymore, they cash in,' fake currency with Shakira's face printed on it rained from above. The show closed with a wolf's head superimposed over Shakira's face on the screens, as her healing journey was complete. Let the mighty she wolf howl.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Saudi Sports Fund SURJ Backs Pique's Seven-a-Side Kings League
Takeaways NEW Saudi Arabia is to become the latest home of Gerard Piqué's Kings League tournament, in a bid to capitalize on its growing football fan base and boost sports engagement among its youth. SURJ Sports, the investment arm of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, has signed a joint venture to launch Kings League MENA, bringing the viral seven-a-side football tournament to the Kingdom for the first time, with the inaugural event set for November, according to a statement on Tuesday.
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
SURJ Sports Investment and Kings League partner to launch Kings League MENA
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SURJ Sports Investment and Kings League have today announced a partnership to launch Kings League MENA, a regionally anchored version of the revolutionary seven-a-side football league founded by football legend and entrepreneur Gerard Piqué. The new joint venture will launch later this year and will bring an innovative and digital-first sporting experience to the MENA region, with Saudi Arabia confirmed as the league's inaugural host. Developed in partnership between SURJ Sports Investment and Kings League, the MENA league – set to become the seventh league in the Kings League's global portfolio – will feature a unique mix of regional football talent, digital-native content, and stunning live events, redefining how fans experience the game. Details on team identities, celebrity team owners, and the competition's format will be unveiled as the league builds toward its inaugural kickoff. The venture includes plans to engage local talent through open tryouts, draft mechanisms, and community activations, helping to foster a new pipeline of football and content creation talent across the Arab world. The announcement is a major milestone in the evolution of sports entertainment across the region. With a format that fuses competitive football, gamified rules, and celebrity streamer team owners, Kings League MENA is designed to captivate young audiences and set a new benchmark for fan engagement in global sport. With 80% of Kings League's 30 million global social media followers under the age of 34 – and nearly 70% of Saudi Arabia's population under 30 – the league is tailored to match the digital behaviors and entertainment preferences of the region's youth. Danny Townsend, CEO of SURJ Sports Investment, said: "Kings League MENA is unlike anything the region has seen. We're bringing an entirely new model to market – one that celebrates football's competitive spirit while embracing the energy of digital creators, fans, and youth culture. This venture reflects SURJ's broader mandate to invest in sports IP and enablement platforms that deliver long-term returns, grow the ecosystem, and connect with the next generation of fans across the region.' Djamel Agaoua, CEO of Kings League commented: "We're thrilled to take the Kings League into MENA through this exciting partnership with SURJ. Saudi Arabia is the perfect launchpad for a league that's bold, fan-first, and digitally native. Together, we're building a platform that fuses entertainment, sport, and digital culture – one that's tailor-made for this region's energy and ambition.' Kings League has reimagined football for the digital era and for the next generation of fans. Since the explosive success of the original Spanish league in 2023, it has expanded to major football markets around the world, adding leagues in Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy and Germany. Iconic stadiums including the Camp Nou (90k spectators) in Barcelona and Juventus Stadium in Torino (40k spectators) have sold out for Kings League finals. The growing global ecosystem of leagues is augmented by two spectacular annual international tournaments, the Kings World Cup Clubs and the Kings World Cup Nations. The best teams of each Kings League qualify for the Kings World Cup Clubs. The best players of each country play for their national team in the Kings World Cup Nations. Kings League works with world-leading streamers, content creators, and football legends to drive engagement, and will bring the same winning model to MENA. FC Barcelona superstars Lamine Yamal and Jules Koundé, Brazil legends Kaká and Neymar Jr, Argentina icon Kun Agüero, former Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Real Madrid players Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga are among the team and league presidents in the Kings League ecosystem. Content creator superstars in the ecosystem include American icon Jake Paul, Saudi Arabia's SHoNgxBoNg, and Spanish streaming giant Ibai Llanos. ABOUT SURJ SPORTS INVESTMENT SURJ (/Surge/) Sports Investment, a PIF company, is fueling the growth of international sport through strategic investments with global and local resonance. Its mandate centers on investing in global rights holders and key enablers in the global sports ecosystem – investments that will generate long-term returns, empower sports and sports-adjacent businesses to innovate and reach new audiences and create new experiences. SURJ Sports Investment is unlocking game-changing opportunities, inspiring the next generation of talent and fans in Saudi Arabia, the wider MENA region and beyond. For more about SURJ Sports Investment, visit ABOUT KINGS LEAGUE Created by football legend and entrepreneur Gerard Piqué, Kings League has become a global phenomenon that has revolutionized the way we understand football and sport. It is a new 7-a-side football league with teams presided over by the best streamers and content creators in the world, with revolutionary rules that seek to unite the best of football with the latest trends in esports and new ways of communicating and understanding the world. In this sense, Kings League has not only managed to "reimagine the game", but has also elevated sport and entertainment to a new dimension, making them more accessible to all audiences. For more information, visit
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Moment Shakira slips and falls on stage - a week after measles scare at concert
Shakira fell on stage during a performing Whenever, Wherever last Tuesday at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The three-time Grammy winner, 48, was in the middle of performing the high-energy track - a top 10 hit on Billboard 's charts in late 2001 - when she slipped and hit the ground. A fan posted a clip of the fall on Instagram Stories, depicting the South American singer, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, losing her balance sideways and hitting the ground. The three-time Grammy winner, last year speaking with The Sunday Times, said that the rumors she learned about ex Gerard Piqué's alleged cheating after discovering an out of place jam jar were 'not true.' The Hips Don't Lie hitmaker and former soccer player, 37, parted ways in June of 2022; they are parents to two sons, Milan, 11, and Sasha, nine. In the wake of his split with the South American singer, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, Piqué began a romance with Clara Chia Marti. Adding to the speculation about the jam incident was the music video for Colombian singer's single Te Felicito, a collaboration with Rauw Alejandro, in April of 2022. The video included a sequence in which Shakira was seen rummaging in her refrigerator, spurring on speculation about potential hints she was dropping ahead of the end of her relationship with Piqué. The Hips Don't Lie vocalist faced questions about the sequence in a May 2022 appearance on the U.K. television show This Morning. According to a translated transcript of the exchange on ShowNews Today, she said that she peered into the fridge in the clip in an effort 'to find the truth.' The Whenever, Wherever artist added, 'It is when I go to the fridge and find the head of Rauw Alejandro.' According to ShowNews Today, the Spanish TV show Socialite was the first to connect the jam incident, citing an interview with Shakira. Shakira figured out someone else had been in the house, according to the outlet, leading her to suspect Piqué of two-timing her. The jam theory persisted via legions of the singer's fans posting on social media about it. In the chat with The Sunday Times, Shakira also spoke about how she balanced her personal life with her professional life. 'For a long time I put my career on hold, to be next to Gerard, so he could play football,' Shakira said. 'There was a lot of sacrifice for love.' The musical artist is slated to release her next album, the Spanish language record Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry), via Sony Latin Friday. She said that she channeled her strong emotions about her personal life into the album, as she focused on transforming her 'pain into creativity, frustration into productivity, anger into passion, vulnerability into resilience.' She added, 'There were so many pieces of my life that crumbled in front of my eyes and I had to rebuild myself in a way, picking up the bones from the floor and putting them all together. And the glue that kept it all together was music.'
Ya Biladi
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Ya Biladi
Zaytouna FC joins King's League : Moroccan team led by Maître Gims and manager
Marrakech-based Zaytouna FC announced on May 20, 2025, its entry into the King's League after receiving a wildcard invitation directly from founder Gerard Piqué. The Moroccan team will be led by music star Maître Gims and manager Youssef Aarab. Founded in 2019, Zaytouna FC consists exclusively of Moroccan players from Marrakech. The team specializes in five-a-side football and boasts an impressive record of 345 undefeated matches. Their achievements include winning the Moroccan tournament in 2022 and representing the country at the World Cup in Germany in 2023. They recently triumphed at the Kickoff tournament. «As president of Zaytouna FC, I consider myself a big brother to these young players», said Aarab, who established the club to provide world-class facilities for developing young talent. The King's League, created in 2022 by Piqué and streamer Ibai Llanos, features seven-a-side matches lasting 40 minutes with unlimited substitutions and «secret cards» offering various advantages and disadvantages. The competition has already gained popularity across Spain, Latin America, Italy, Brazil, France, and Germany.
