With excitement building for the new Kings League season, the organizers held an event at the Roxy Theater in Rio de Janeiro that revealed all the details for the upcoming year. The global hybrid football project is set to become more exciting than ever, thanks to a slew of additions and a new rule that is bound to have an impact on matches.
Kings League Kickoff Day 2025 happened on October 11 and saw appearances from top streamers and some of the world's most popular former and current footballers, with co-creator Gerard Piqué disclosing what was in store for fans in the 2025/26 season, including new competitions, teams and nations.
Kings World Cup Nations is coming back
A crowd-pleasing reveal that had viewers and fans ecstatic was the involvement of the legendary Brazilian forward, Ronaldo. He will serve as president of the second edition of the highly successful Kings World Cup Nations, hosted by the reigning champions, Brazil.
The Kings World Cup Nations 2026 will also be expanded by four countries to a total of 20 teams. Alongside most of the sides from the inaugural iteration, the new participants include:
- India (YouTube Ajey "CarryMinati" Nagar will be the captain)
- Chile (Arturo Vidal and Cristóbal "Shelao" Álvarez)
- Netherlands (Wesley Sneijder and Mohamed "chatmo" Rashid)
- Poland (Robert Lewandowski and Piotr "izak" Skowyrski)
- Belgium (captain will be revealed later)
- Qatar (AboFlah)
- Indonesia (YouTuber Atta Halilintar)
- France (captain will be revealed later in the year)
Korea, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan are the sides from the Kings World Cup 2025 that won't be returning this time around. The final of the 2026 edition will be played on January 17, 2026, at the Allianz Parque in São Paulo, the home of the legendary Brazilian club Palmeiras.
Kings League MENA gets huge name as team president
Arabic-speaking content creators broadcasting the Kickoff Day 2025 received high interest from their community thanks to updates regarding the Kings League MENA. First introduced to the world in August, the latest circuit in the rapidly growing sports franchise will commence its inaugural season on October 24 and run through December 31.
The maiden split will be known as the Kings Cup MENA, with Saudi Arabia confirmed to be the host. The tournament will be held as part of the Riyadh Season festival, which runs from October 2025 to March 2026, with the winner not only making history as the regional league's first-ever champion but also representing MENA at the Kings World Cup Clubs 2026.
The biggest talking point for the upcoming competition from the Kings League Kickoff Day 2025 was the reveal of Hassan "AboFlah" Suleyman as the newest president. He will take charge of the eighth and final team, with the line-up of presidents boasting other star-studded names like Maher "maherco" Sultaneh, Hani "Absi" Al Qoublan, Fawaz "Fwaz" Hamad, Saleh "Tarboun" Tarboun, Ahmed "sxb" Alqahtani, Mofareh "drb7h" al Asiri, and Ilyas el Maliki.
Kings Cup & Kings World Cup Clubs updates
The mixing of leagues from each continent to form a cup competition of sorts was a vital announcement. The Kings League Americas will now be called the Kings Cup America and consist of two conferences — Kings Cup Brazil and Kings Cup Mexico — with each country having its own group stage.
The winner of each conference will then face off in a grand final of sorts, with the victor here representing the Americas region at the Kings World Cup Clubs 2026. This deciding match will be played at the Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City on November 21.
To this effect, it was also revealed that Abraham "ElAbrahaham" Flores and Stiven "mrstiventc" Caicedo would join the Kings Cup Mexico as one team's presidents. The name of their new side has not been revealed yet, but that news should be out soon, as the Unboxing event for the Kings Cup Mexico is scheduled for later on October 13.
It is a similar story in Europe, where the three nations — Italy, Germany and Spain — will have their own conference group stages. The three winners will then face off for a chance to represent the continent at the KWCC 26. The Kings Cup Europe final will be conducted at the Velodrom in Berlin on November 22.
Not much was revealed about the second edition of the Kings World Cup Clubs, but it will see participation from all the regional leagues. With the format changing to include cross-continental finals in some regions, it will be interesting to see how the 2026 iteration of the tournament shapes up.
A new rule that could make or break games
Last but not least was the reveal of the Reverse Penalty, a new secret weapon chosen and voted for by fans that will be implemented across all club and international competitions under the Kings League umbrella in 2025/26. Under this rule, the team that draws the card chooses a rival to take a penalty. If they score, the goal doesn’t count. If they miss, the opposing team gets a goal.
Viewership statistics of the Kings League Kickoff Day 2025
Across all livestreams, the Kings League Kickoff Day 2025 reached 358,413 Peak Viewers (PV) and 750,985 Hours Watched (HW). With so much information packed into this event, the broadcast attracted the attention of top content creators like Junichi Kato, Gianmarco "tumblurr" Tocco, Casimiro "CazeTV" Miguel, and Samantha "rivers_gg" Rivera.
Thanks to the excitement around the upcoming Kings League MENA, it was three prominent Arab creators on Kick — sxb, drb7h, and ilyaselmaliki — who finished among the top streamers by watch time and peak concurrent viewers. The first two streamers also finished among the Stake-backed livestreaming service's ten most popular channels on October 11.
It promises to be an exciting time for fans of the media football league that has become one of the marquee sporting spectacles on the annual livestreaming calendar. Streams Charts will keep readers updated on the developments in these various regional and global leagues, with detailed statistics for over 55M channels available through our PRO subscription.
