Kings League, that other football that moves after football

A 90-minute match that can end 0-0 is very difficult to understand for the new generation

Gerard Piqué

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Roger Carbó (26) tells me:

–Actually, all footballers come from the Kings League.

–…?

He tells me that the Kings League is backyard soccer. That the tournament is improvised, unexpected football.

The one in the open field and the two backpacks that act as goals. The six against six that becomes six against five because, suddenly, one of the players leaves.

Well, they call him to dinner.

Or you have to visit grandpa.

Or it’s cold, go home now!

The match is ten goals and you have to win by two. If night falls and the light dies, it is decided by penalties. Whoever throws can repeat. If necessary, my father acts as goalkeeper.

–Those parties… What memories, eh? Sometimes we played attack and goal, two against two. But if it had to be fifteen against fifteen, then that’s it. It was Brazilian-style football, not because of the technique, but because of ‘do what you want’ – Roger Carbó tells me.

(Roger Carbó is strong and rocky and wears the Golden Crown of the championship, the award for the best player of the last year, and he comes with crutches because he has torn the anterior cruciate and the meniscus in his right knee and these days he will not be able to defend the colors of the xBuyer Team, already qualified for the Playoffs Week from December 12 to 15 at the Cupra Arena in Barcelona).

One day I was driving with a friend when, on the radio, they announced the Kings League: ‘Have you signed up?’, he said to me.”

Roger CarbóKings League Gold Crown 2023

–We have all grown up with street football. But we adults opt for traditional football – I observe him.

–Yes… however, I have spoken with many kids and most of them are bored with traditional football. Children come and go with their smartphones and that has been their tool to learn the kings leagueto Ibai Llanos or to Lali Espósito.

-And you?

–I started in a park in Torrelles de Llobregat and in the municipal field. I spent 24 hours a day in one place or another. He always went with the ball in his hand and on his foot.

–Did you dream of being a footballer?

–From Barça, like everyone. My best friend, Joaquín, was signed at the Barça school. How envious my uncle made me! I scored more goals! I told my father: ‘Dad, I want to too.’ They never signed me.

He tells me that he went through 7-a-side football and then futsal. He reached the First Division with Les Corts UBAE. He often hurt himself. A pubalgia, a clavicle…

(Out of the corner of my eye, I look at his injured knee).

–At 22 years old, fed up with so many injuries, I decided to leave futsal. I had to work: I joined a tax consultancy. I combined it with the gym. I got like a bull, you know?

He says he weighed up to 92 kilos. For a 1.72m guy, an outrage.

–He pulled 110 kilos of chest… And meanwhile, he played some indoor soccer games. And one day in 2021, I was driving with a friend when, on the radio, they announced the Kings League. ‘Have you signed up? It’s soccer 7 and it’s streaming, everything you like. It seems designed for you. Make a video and come,’ the friend told me.

In his gallery, Roger Carbó had a lot of videos. He encapsulated them and sent them.

Three weeks later he received an email. They invited him to the Kings League tryouts. TheGrefg signed him for Saiyans FC. In 2023, Roger Carbó joined the xBuyer Team.

–Are you professional?

Smile.

–We charge well. I have become independent, I live with my partner. But I’m not a football professional because I have other jobs. I’m a streamer. I have a Twitch account: rogercarbo11. I stream video games, I preview league games… Thousands of people watch my sessions.

–Do they recognize you on the street?

–If I stand in front of a school, I assure you that yes…

–What happens when Ronaldinho or Capdevila play in the Kings League? Are they better than you?

–Man, they have technique. But they are already old, their physique weighs on them. Capdevila is wonderful, you know? I shared a locker room with him. He was a horny extrovert. I was a small town kid and he was a world champion. At times, I thought it wasn’t him.

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