FILE PHOTO: Basketball - NBA - Pre-Season Game - Boston Celtics v Denver Nuggets - Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - October 4, 2024 Former footballer Gerard Pique watches the game REUTERS/Rula Rouhana/ File Photo
SAO PAULO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The Gerard Pique-founded Kings League is planning a U.S. launch in 2026 but its fast expansion will not stop there as it expects to enter more global markets and potentially licence the format, the former Spain and Barcelona player has told Reuters.
The seven-a-side league created by Pique in 2022 blends soccer with video-game features along with shorter matches, customised rules, heavy audience interaction and social-media personalities as central figures in its teams and events.
It expanded quickly from Spain to Italy, Germany, France, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, where it is hosting its version of the World Cup this month. The priority now, Pique said, is to consolidate the audience base while opening new markets.
While a rollout in the United States is expected this year, the former defender said the league would tread carefully in a country where soccer is not the dominant sport.
"There will be different challenges, and that's why we want to take our time to really think very carefully about what is the best way to do it," he said in an interview in Sao Paulo on Friday.
Kings League CEO Djamel Agaoua noted that the U.S. version will likely require a larger entertainment component on top of the league's base product.
"It's not only the fact that soccer is probably the number four or five sport in the country, but also that it's the climax of sports entertainment culture," Agaoua said. "We probably have to invest a bit more in that."
LICENSING, OTHER SPORTS
Beyond the U.S., Pique mentioned strong interest from the Netherlands, Portugal, Turkey, South Korea and Japan plus several South American markets such as Argentina, Chile and Colombia.
Future expansion could involve licensing the format.
"There are so many countries right now that we want to bring the product and we have to find a way. We cannot manage 30, 40 leagues because it would be a nightmare for us as a company. So the idea maybe is to try to licence the product," he said.
The Kings World Cup Nations is expected to draw some 40,000 fans to Saturday's final between Brazil and Chile at Sao Paulo's Allianz Parque stadium.
The league is also exploring the possibility of eventually expanding into other sports. Agaoua cited basketball, tennis and fighting as potential examples. "There are plenty of activities where our recipe could work," he said.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Ken Ferris)
