East London played host to two very different versions of the ‘beautiful game’ on Sunday.
Just a stone’s throw from the London Stadium, where 58,669 fans turned out to see West Ham beat QPR in the FA Cup, about 4,000 supporters watched close to five hours of football as season two of Baller League UK concluded.
Wembley Rangers – managed by former England strikers Ian Wright and Alan Shearer – won the title by beating defending champions SDS in Sunday’s final.
And Baller League chief executive Felix Starck believes his six-a-side competition has surpassed what the Premier League can offer for the younger generation.
He claims the top flight is “not even close” to the age group following Baller League.
“In the younger audience, we are leading that market share – between 16-28 we are more watched than the Premier League when it comes to live games,” he says.
The figures are hard to verify – but it is worth pointing out Baller League matches are more accessible than Premier League fixtures shown solely on subscription channels.
Baller League is broadcast simultaneously across Sky, Twitch and YouTube, and the league says it had more than two million live viewers per matchday in season one.
It is yet to release figures for its second season in the UK but just one of the 11 matchdays hit one million views on YouTube – compared to eight matchdays in season one.
Premier League games shown on Sky Sports attracted an average audience of about 1.57 million per game during the 2024-25 season – down 10% from the previous campaign.
Baller League leans on former Premier League players, content creators and celebrities to attract the masses, with Wright, Shearer, England Euros winner Chloe Kelly and actor Idris Elba among those managing teams.
“We need to educate our fans well enough to say: ‘It’s a new sport, come on the journey with us,'” says Starck.
