Latest news with #KingsLeague
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Business of Sports: New Look Intuit Dome
Join hosts Michael Barr, Damian Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports. Bloomberg Business of Sports Reporter Randall Williams details the latest private equity investments into NFL franchises. Bloomberg Sports Reporter Vanessa Perdomo speaks with former FC Barcelona star Gerard Pique and Kings League CEO Djamel Agaoua on the rising popularity of the seven on seven soccer league, which was launched in 2022. Gillian Zucker, CEO of Halo Sports and Entertainment and President of Business Operations for the LA Clippers, joins to discuss the successful first season for the tech-heavy Intuit Dome.
Bloomberg
6 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
6 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
Arab News
7 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Saudi wealth fund, Kings League join forces to reshape sports entertainment
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the Kings League have agreed to form a joint venture to transform sports entertainment in the Middle East, with the Kingdom set to host the inaugural season. The new collaboration, unveiled on May 27, is set to commence later this year, delivering an innovative, digital-first sporting experience tailored for the MENA region. SURJ Sports Investment, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's PIF Fund, has partnered with Kings League to launch Kings League MENA, a regional version of the seven-a-side football competition founded by former footballer Gerard Pique, according to a statement from SURJ. Saudi Arabia's sports sector is undergoing rapid expansion, with its market value projected to grow from $8 billion to $22.4 billion by 2030, driven by rising investment and a strategic national focus on the industry. Since 2019, the Kingdom has hosted more than 100 major international events across 40 different sports, reinforcing its ambition to become a global hub for sports and entertainment under Vision 2030. A 2024 report by SURJ highlighted that the sector's contribution to the Kingdom's gross domestic product grew from $2.4 billion in 2016 to $6.9 billion in 2019. 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.' Townsend added that the venture aligns with his company's broader mission to invest in sports intellectual property and supporting platforms that generate sustainable returns, expand the ecosystem, and engage the region's next generation of fans. Djamel Agaoua, CEO of Kings League, expressed his thrill 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,' Agaoua said. The official release stated: '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.' The report highlighted that 80 percent of Kings League's 30 million global social media followers are under the age of 34, while nearly 70 percent of Saudi Arabia's population is under 30. This makes the league well-aligned with the digital habits and entertainment preferences of the region's younger generation. Developed jointly by the two entities, the MENA league, soon to become the seventh addition to the Kings League's global portfolio, will showcase regional football talent, digital-first content, and immersive live events. In its announcement, SURJ stated that details regarding team identities, celebrity owners, and the competition format will be disclosed as the league approaches its inaugural kickoff. It added that the venture plans to engage local talent through open tryouts, draft mechanisms, and community activations, aiming to cultivate a new pipeline of football and content creation talent across the Arab world. According to data from Statista, the broader Middle East and North Africa sports market is also projected to expand, with revenues increasing from $4.79 billion in 2024 to $5.57 billion by 2029.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement La Liga, UK Women's Football 2025 The Athletic Media Company
