75 euros per game until the competition does not make a profit

2023-05-09 14:00:15

BarcelonaThe beginning of the second split (season) of the Kings League has led to the emergence of one of the most uncomfortable controversies that the competition has experienced so far: the low wages perceived by the players. Those chosen in draft which was done before the start of the league they accepted an initial contract with 75 euros of remuneration per match and the possibility of receiving slightly more in case of reaching the final phase. In total, the maximum salary that a footballer could receive in total during the three months that lasted the first year ranged between 1,100 and 800 euros. These conditions, many hoped would improve towards the second split of the competition, which started on Sunday. But it hasn’t been like that.

“With the success the league has had, the most logical thing is to improve the conditions of the players”, cried some of the presidents (the majority streamers) in one of the programs they do as a preview of the day, in which Gerard Piqué, the president of the Kings League, and Oriol Querol, the CEO of the competition, were also present, who merely said that they would review the contracts in a future Piqué himself repeated it during the celebration following the four-way final played at Camp Nou at the end of March. The issue was not discussed publicly again until last Friday, two days before the start of the new one split, the players learned that their salaries would remain the same. This news made some angry because they assumed that conditions would have improved.

“It is true that both Piqué and Querol said that their salary would be increased, but they did not specify when. The fact is that no one promised a raise in writing. The feeling we all have is that it will be for next season”, justified thestreamer and president of Jijantes, Gerard Romero, on his Twitch channel on the same Friday. Official sources of the Kings League have confirmed to the ARA this intention and have added that they have already conveyed to the players privately what was announced publicly on this subject. “The project is growing so quickly that we have to adapt to the needs it entails. At first, the financial reward corresponded to the weekly match time that was requested of them”, they argue. But this explanation has not convinced everyone. In fact, there is one player who has not signed the deal. It is about Juan Quero, from Jijantes, precisely.

Piqué, an impulsive businessman

Despite the resounding success that the Kings League has had since taking the first step on January 1, Gerard Piqué, through the Kosmos holding company, is currently only accumulating losses in the business. So far, according to ARA, he has invested around three million and lost between one and one and a half. But the former Barça player is far from worried. Their strategy is to start making money from the irruption of the Kings League franchises that are being prepared in several countries for 2024. The first to give the starting shot will be the Brazilian one, with Ronaldinho and Neymar confirmed as club presidents In these cases, Piqué does not plan to spend anything. On the contrary, it will be the franchises that will pay to be able to use the name and format of the competition. Therefore, the 36-year-old businessman will only be dedicated to bringing in money thanks to this expansion.

Beyond increasing business, there is another aspect that motivates Piqué in the operation of taking the Kings League to other places in the world: avoiding boredom. “He needs to expand the business to continue to find incentives for him. That is why he is now working on the subject of franchises,” a person from his environment tells this newspaper. “If a project of his becomes routine, he gets tired of it. This is what happened to him with the World Cup. Piqué’s problem is that he starts projects with great enthusiasm and then, when they have done the boom and has succeeded in innovating in the media landscape, they cease to interest him”, he adds.

He introduced the Kings League without having a place to play

The Kings League has been closely related to Catalonia since the beginning, as the headquarters of the regular phase matches is the ZAL pavilion in the port of Barcelona. The presentation of the competition was also held in the Catalan capital last November 10. There was a new demonstration of Piqué’s business impulsiveness. It had only been two days since he had been sent off for protesting in his last match with Barça when he announced to the four winds in Sala Paral·lel 62 the creation of this innovative competition. Among the audience at the event, which was limited to guests and journalists, there was concern that the project was being announced publicly and given a start date when a site that could host the competition. Finally, the ZAL pavilion, a humble and aging venue, was chosen. In a matter of weeks, the federated teams that played there were forced into exile and the space was transformed into a television set.