Spain and Barcelona legend Gerard Pique shared his frustration regarding football’s current rules. He thinks that the game should adapt new rules to keep younger audiences engaged. This football icon has unveiled his vision for the future of football.
The football legend retired in 2022. Recently he critiqued the state of the game and initiated a seven-a-side tournament named the Kings League. Pique’s Kings League is streamed six 40-minute games on each matchday. It seems that the games will able to make great appeal to younger audiences. The tournament will initiate quirky rules such as unlimited substitutions, sin bins, and a gold card.
The World Cup-winning defender said, “You need to find ways to score more goals, or that you cannot end a game as a draw. Maybe there are no draws, why not? In baseball and basketball, there are no draws. You go to a game and it ends with a draw and the feeling is, ‘Who won?’
The Spain icon revealed will like to introduce the win-or-lose model used in American sports such as basketball and baseball. Pique said, “Football is afraid of change. It has a huge history, it is very traditional, but change will happen, it has to happen. A 90-minute game that can finish 0-0 is difficult to understand for the new generation.”
He also added, “There will be a point when you wear these glasses and it will be the same as being there in the stadium except you will be able to say, ‘Now I want to sit next to Xavi, now I want to watch it from behind the goal.’
Then he added, “There will be a point where clubs will be paying fans to go to the stadium because the experience at home in your pajamas, with your biscuits on your sofa, is even better than going to the stadium. We are not so far from it.
He continued, “You need to understand where football is going, where entertainment is going, and mix them, so people are still attached to football.”