The 2024 Kings World Cup was the inaugural edition of the Kings World Cup (later known as Kings World Cup Clubs), an international seven-a-side football tournament featuring teams from the Kings League and the Américas Kings League, plus twelve teams from future international versions of the Kings League, which made their debut as wildcards.
It took place in Mexico from May 26 to June 8. On 20 April, it was announced that the tournament finals would be held at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey.
Background On 7 November 2023, a new tournament was announced, tentatively named the Kings League World Cup. It was announced as featuring 20 teams from the Kings League, with 10 teams from Spain and 10 from the Americas, along with teams from other countries, totaling 32 teams. It was held in Mexico from 26 May to 8 June 2024.
Following the announcement, it was confirmed that former Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimović would preside over the competition.
Slot Allocation Direct entrants Kings League Spain : 8 teams (top 8 teams in Split 3) Kings League Americas : 8 teams (top 8 teams in Split 1) Wildcards : 12 teams Redemption Game winners : 4 teams
Redemption Game entrants Kings League Spain : 4 teams (teams ranked 9th to 12th in Split 3) Kings League Americas : 4 teams (teams ranked 9th to 12 in Split 1)
Format The Kings World Cup is being contested with some features of a Swiss-system tournament, and structured as follows:
Redemption Game In the Redemption round, the bottom 4 teams from Kings League Spain & Kings League Americas play against each other for the final 4 spots to the Kings World Cup First stage In the first round, the 32 teams each play one match, with the pairings decided by an open draw, with no restrictions based on nation coincidence. All teams will move on to the second round, with the teams that won their first-round match going to a 'winner bracket' and the teams that lost going to a 'loser bracket'. The teams of the 'winner bracket' that win their second round match will immediately qualify for the knockout stage, while the losing teams will face the winning teams from the 'loser bracket' in a last-chance round. The winners of the last-chance round will join the 'winner bracket' second-round winners in the knockout stage. Knockout stage The knockout phase will then consist of a round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and a final. The winners will receive a million-dollar cash prize.
Teams Kings League President: Gerard Piqué + Team Chairperson(s) Qualified via
Américas Kings League President: Miguel Layún Team Chairperson(s) Qualified via (HolaSoyGerman)
Wildcards + Team Chairperson(s) Qualification date
Squads As usual in the Kings League, teams will field a regular roster of ten drafted players, plus guest 11th, 12th and 13th Players.
Players included in the initial/drafted 10 players for each team included FIVE FC's Manny Brown and Tom Clare. Brown is an English Sunday league footballer and YouTuber and the brother of Tobi "TBJZL" Brown of the Sidemen, while Clare is an English semi-pro footballer who was on Love Islands ninth and All-Stars series.
1K FCManager: Pol Coma
Aniquiladores FCManager: Sergio Verdirame
Club de CuervosManager: Jacques Passy
Deptostra FCManager: Rocky Peeters
FIVE FCManager: Dean Saunders
Foot2RueManager: Saïd Dorbani
Furia FCManager: Dudu Oliveira
G3X FCManager: Víctor Taube
Galácticos del CaribeManager: Lucas Ayala
Jijantes FCManager: Pau Moral
KunisportsManager: Martín Posse
Limon FCManager: Burak Kaymak
Los Aliens 1021Manager: Efraín Velarde
Los Troncos FCManager: Èric Bartra
Medallo CityManager: Jason Murray
Muchachos FCManager: Ricardo La Volpe
Murash FCManager: Tatsuro Inui
Olimpo UnitedManager: Alejandro Castro
Peluche CaligariManager: Ángel Reyna
Persas FCManager: Víctor Chaires
PIO FCManager: Arnau Jariod
Porcinos FCManager: Nacho Castro
Raniza FCManager: Severo Meza
Real TitánManager: Pol Font
Saiyans FCManager: Daniel Romo
StallionsManager: Luca Diddi
SXB FCManager: Abdullah Al-Shehri
UA SteelManager: Valeriy Fedorchuk
Ultimate MóstolesManager: Álex Martínez
West Santos FCManager: Gabriel España
xBuyer TeamManager: Víctor González
Youniors FCManager:' Damir Agovic
Broadcasting rights Aside from the usual livestreams on Twitch and YouTube, both from the official Kings League channels and the teams' chairpersons, the Kings World Cup will also be airing on the following channels and platforms: Country or region Broadcaster Matches shown Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan Setanta Sports All Belgium and Portugal DAZN All Brazil DesimpedidosCamisa21 All Catalonia 3Cat All France M6+ All Ghana and Nigeria SportyTV All Hungary RTL+ Round of 16 onwards Israel OneSport All Italy Sportitalia All Mexico Canal 6 All Netherlands RTL NederlandVideoland All Norway VG All Philippines TAP TV All Russia OKKO All Sweden Sportbladet All Turkey Acun MedyaExxen All West and Central Africa Moov TV All
Tournament staff + Person Role President of the Kings World Cup ("King of Kings") Spanish-language commentators Spanish-language interviewers French-language interviewer Portuguese-language interviewer Italian-language interviewer
Redemption Game The Redemption Game was a play-in contested on 25 May, the day before the official start of the tournament, onsite in Mexico City. The four Kings League teams and the four Américas Kings League teams that did not qualify directly (9th through 12th place in both leagues' most recent splits) played each other for the last remaining four spots in the tournament, with a Spanish team facing an Américas Kings League team in each instance.
Teams in the Redemption Game + League Team Chairperson(s) Spain Americas
Matches
First Stage First round The first round was contested from 26 to 28 May 2024.
Second round Winners' Bracket The Winners' Bracket teams who win their second-round match will advance to the knockout stage; the losing teams will go to the last-chance round.
Losers' Bracket The Losers' Bracket teams who win their second-round match will go to the last-chance round; the losing teams will be eliminated from the World Cup.
Last-chance round Winning teams advance to the knockout stage, losing teams are eliminated from the World Cup.
Knockout stage Qualified teams Team Qualified via Furia FC Winners' Bracket G3X FC Los Troncos FC Porcinos FC Peluche Caligari Aniquiladores FC Kunisports xBuyer Team Ultimate Móstoles Last-chance round Muchachos FC Olimpo United Stallions Saiyans FC Limon FC Jijantes FC Los Aliens 1021
Bracket
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
ChampionPorcinos FC1st title
References
External links Official Website