Barcelona and Spain legend Gerard Piqué has issued a warning for football to adapt to attract a younger audience and reveals the one rule he would change to help the game progress.
Piqué is perhaps one of the greatest defenders of all time, having enjoyed continued success with both Barcelona and Spain, where he won the World Cup in 2010 between European Championship triumphs in 2008 and 2012.
For his club, he was a veteran of nine LaLiga title-winning campaigns, and lifted the Champions League four times and the Copa del Rey on seven other occasions, in addition to winning the Premier League at Manchester United.
He hung up his boots in November 2022, but went on to spearhead a number of projects in the sport, including the formation of the Kings League, which combines the worlds of Twitch streaming and elite football into a five-player tournament.
As such, the Spanish legend is a figure who has not been shy about exploring the need to move forward and has now revealed how he believes football must change if it is to retain the attention of younger audiences.
Gerard Piqué retired in November 2022 after a historic career in both Barcelona and Spain.
He spent the vast majority of his career at the Catalan giants, apart from four years at Manchester United from 2004 to 2008.
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“One of the reasons we created the Kings League is that I saw my children watching a football match and after ten minutes they were on their phones and tablets and watching other things at the same time.,’ he said The times.
‘Football is entertainment, so it’s not just about competing with other sports. Compete with Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok. Everyone has limited time. “Football for 90 minutes is not that exciting.”
And when asked if he watched full 90-minute games, he added: “Not really. (I watched) Barça-Napoli, for example, an important Champions League game, but the 25th game in the league?” (season)? I don’t look at them.
‘A little bit of Barça, when I can, but not 90 minutes. Maybe 30 or 40 minutes. It’s a trend, it’s happening. “It’s unstoppable and you have to adapt.”
He also cited examples from American sports when discussing his second idea for improving football, citing baseball and basketball.
Most sports across the Atlantic cannot end in a tie, so the game goes into extra time to decide a winner, and Piqué suggested that eliminating ties would make the sport a more entertaining product.
‘Maybe there won’t be ties, why not? In baseball and basketball there are no ties. You go to a game and it ends in a tie and the feeling is, “Who won?”
‘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 match that can end 0-0 is difficult for the new generation to understand.”
The Spanish legend helped form the Kings League, which combines Twitch streaming and elite soccer in five-player games.
Piqué has been frank about football’s need to advance and evolve if it wants to retain the attention span of younger audiences.
And when asked if he would be in a better position with FIFA and UEFA lawmakers, he added: “Very boring.” You can’t change much. With the processes, the committees, it’s a nightmare.’
Implementing a similar feature in football, for example, could prove unpopular, with many teams and coaches already frequently expressing concerns about player welfare due to match congestion.
Adding an extra half hour to the end of tied games will likely prove even less popular.
In addition to founding the Liga del Rey, Piqué also formed a sports media and investment group, Kosmos Holding, and is the owner of FC Andorra in Spain’s Second Division.