How is Baller League doing in bid to ‘bring back football’?

When he launched his UK version of the six-a-side competition in early 2025, Baller League CEO Felix Starck had clear and bold plans to “bring back football.”

On whether he fulfilled his promise, one glance through social media yields polarizing viewpoints.

Any online rants from thousands of screaming children and regular air horn interjections were drowned out by the German entrepreneur pitchside at a sold-out O2 Arena for the season-closing Final Four event.

The majority of the audience members were fans of it, so perhaps the 55-year-olds didn’t like it as much, but the kids like it, so why do we care about the 55-year-olds? Starck contacted BBC Sport.

What kind of hate exists? It’s free to watch, you don’t have to pay for it, and you don’t have to pay for it. Why do people hate something that they didn’t lose a minute or two on?

The first season, which aired between March and June, was broadcast on YouTube and Twitch as well as Sky Sports.

For each night of action, there were 12 matchdays on average, with one million YouTube streams.

The request for Baller League’s viewing figures on Sky Sports was not received by BBC Sport.

There is evidence that Baller League is on the right track, and Starck mentioned wanting to “create an ecosystem” prior to the start of the season.

These “kids” made their way into the O2 with already forged loyalties following 11 matches at London’s Copper Box Arena.

Homemade banners were draped over the railings and displayed on the arena’s walls in support of Sharky’s SDS FC. Yanited, a team that was run by streamer AngryGinge, had green and yellow shirts draped over the railings.

Baller League can offer five-hour long matchdays for £14.75, which is in line with the rising cost of Premier League tickets, which makes it difficult for working-class fans to regularly attend.

Starck remarked, “We’re trying to make football more accessible and democratize it.”

“I spoke to 100 fans at the final, and 70 or 80 of them were at their first live football game,” according to the statement. Normal fans are not able to access it.

Starck has undeniably tapped into a market gap by blending entertainment and the nation’s favorite sport.

“Everything is going to grow,” Starck said, “The biggest thing we try to measure is the quality of the pitch. If it keeps getting better, then eyeballs [on the game] are going to increase,” he said.

“We are attempting to return football to its former state, where three kids played two against one or five against five on the street.” Let’s just play football and regain connection to the base. This is a product, not a product.

Baller League may be successful in many ways. It expanded to the UK and is now gearing up to launch in the USA after launching in Germany in 2023.

Starck did acknowledge that “every department needs improvement.”

The opening UK season was marred by a number of violent incidents, with manager AngryGinge being left with scratch marks on his neck after a fight between Yanited and SDS players on matchday seven.

Later, the Yanited manager claimed that while the pitch was in a brawl, he had been “gripped up and kicked.”

After a fight with Wembley Rangers’ Domingos Pires, former Premier League defender Joleon Lescott, who was a guest player, almost got to grips with the advertising hoardings, Lescott almost got hurt during the incident.

Troy Deeney was given a warning on matchday five for striking a FC Rules the World player while raising his forearm.

Although today’s society is very soft, Starck argued that this is emotion and not sport.

“We have 250 roosters in a room, so they are going to fight,” the roosters say.

We had full discussions after incidents, and we didn’t reveal what we did publicly, but we took steps to prevent incidents like this from occurring again.

Baller League’s internal disciplinary commission deals with sanctions because it is not governed by a governing body like the Premier League.

After the final game of the regular season, when Trebol FC’s Amine Sassi appeared to kick an opponent in the head while they lay on the floor, Baller League decided to take action and issued a one-game suspension.

For the second season, there has been a reshuffle in the dugout, with some well-known managers leaving.

The Ballon d’Or winner is not participating in the new campaign, and Luis Figo, who was last season manager of Trebol FC, did not attend any events.

Gary Lineker, who co-managed Deportrio with pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, has also left after only making a few appearances on the touchline as their team advanced to the semi-finals.

Actors Ian Wright and Ian Wright both swore allegiances to Rukkas FC, while former England international Daniel Sturridge has joined Richards at Deportrio and Shearer has become the new manager of the club.

Additionally, Baller League’s players have been given contracts that range from £300 to £800 per game.

After our first season in the UK, we are culturally relevant. When I attended an Arsenal game, I overheard people talking about Baller League in the stadium, according to Starck.

The challenge is to gather enough firewood to turn this into a real, sustainable fire rather than just hype, they say.