Former Chelsea defender John Terry is amongst a group of former footballers to be involved in a new UK-based Baller League, set to start in March.
Baller League will be launched in both the UK and the USA and is set to feature several legends of the game as both managers and coaches. It will follow on from Baller League in Germany, which began in 2023.
The league itself will be an indoor futsal-style competition involving retired professionals, futsal players, free agents and released academy players.
John Terry, Gary Lineker and Luis Figo have been named as managers, whereas the likes of Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Arsenal ‘invincibles’ Jens Lehmann, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg will all be involved as coaches.
It isn’t just former footballers, as high-profile influencers will also be involved. Youtuber and Musician KSI has been named as the president of the UK League, whereas American streamer IShowSpeed is the president of the US-based league.
Furthermore, YouTubers Miniminter and TBJZL from popular group the Sidemen, will also feature as coaches. Baller League is set to be similar to former Manchester United and Barcelona man Gerard Pique‘s ‘Kings League’ in Spain.
How will the league work?
The league will work as a six-a-side game, with 12 teams competing in all. The top four teams in the league will then enter a playoff, which will determine who will be the champions.
All the games will be played indoors, with each half being 15 minutes long. The matches will be streamed live on Twitch and YouTube every Monday night in order to make it as accessible as possible.
Any player that features will receive £400 per game they play, and rule twists will be brought in during the final three minutes of each half.
The final of the first Baller League season will take place on Monday 19 May when the first champion will be crowned.
Baller League to draw from success of Pique’s Kings League
Former defender Pique has already set-up a similar league in Spain called Kings League. They have both a club competition and a World Cup, which began on Friday 3 January and will run until Sunday 12 January.
Notable names taking part include Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero, Brazil stars Kaka and Neymar, and also Columbia’s James Rodriguez to name a few.
Kings League also has a club competition which is more similar to how Baller League will look. Although Pique’s competition is seven-a-side rather than six.
The World Cup is expected to generate over 600+ million views on YouTube, Twitch, X and TikTok, numbers that Baller League will aim to match when they launch in March.
Kings World Cup has generated high profile sponsors, including, ironically KSI’s drinks brand PRIME. Furthermore, Crypto currency FLOKI also announced their partnership, a coin that has a market cap of almost 2 billion dollars.
The combination of high profile sponsors, and big name players have enabled Kings League to succeed in Spain, and if their projections are correct, globally. Baller League can draw some experience from what Gerard Pique has done in Spain and could find themselves with a globally recognised football league after a couple of years, especially considering Terry, Lineker, Figo and Lehmann’s involvement.
