The Baller League is making headlines. But what is behind the indoor football championship made up of all the stars? t-online explains.
A football league based not just on performance but on famous names? That’s the idea of the Baller League. According to her own statements, she wants to revolutionize indoor football and reach a young target group. The teams are not only made up of football stars, but also celebrities from other industries such as entertainment and music.
Two 2014 soccer world champions launched the project: Lukas Podolski, who acts as president of football, and BVB professional Mats Hummels, who is president of the league. The game is played in a six-on-six format twice for 15 minutes each on a small indoor pitch. This is located in Cologne. The league consists of 12 teams. The games will be streamed on Joyn. They can also be seen on ProSiebenMaxx on Mondays at 8:15 p.m. and for free on YouTube.
Revive the football field vibe
Podolski and Hummels’ idea was to revive the football field vibe from before and just kick it off. Just like children would do on a football field. And that’s exactly what you need, not top technicians, but personalities.
“Poldi” and Hummels found them. Podolski forms the “Streets United” team with Aston Villa striker Alisha Lehmann. “Eintracht Spandau” consists of the DFB base coach Hans Sarpei and the streamer HandOfBlood. The “VFR Zimbos” are led by GamerBrother and Tisi Schubech. The team “Hardstuck Royale” attacks with Trymacs.
Kramer, Boateng and Effenberg there
Gladbach’s Christoph Kramer and striker Ana Maria Markovic want to collect as many points as possible as a “Golden XI” team. “Cage Tiger” is the name of Kevin-Prince Boateng and Diyar Acar’s team. The “Protatos” are represented by Lars and Lucas. Kontra K and Felix Lobrecht attack as “Beton Berlin”.
Max Kruse wants to impress with Knossi and his “Hollywood United” team. The “Gönrgy Allstars” are entering the race with MontanaBlack, unsympatheticTV and t-online columnist Stefan Effenberg. Jule Brand and Selina Cerci are behind “Las Ligas Ladies”. And under “Calcio Berlin” Nico Heymer, Christoph Kröger and Niklas Levinsohn are competing.
Gerard Piqué has “Kings League”
These aforementioned team captains formed their teams on January 22nd. An ex-Bundesliga professional like Maximilian Beister, for example, was also there. More than 16,000 players from the regional, upper and state leagues applied.
There will now be eleven match days until April 1st. Then it goes to the “Final Four” with two semi-finals and a final. Gerard Piqué’s “Kings League” in Spain can be seen as a model. He founded it last August and plays on artificial turf in the hall. Piqué said in the “Sportstudio” at the time: “What we are trying to do here is something like the opposite of real football.”