At the heart of a very tormented period, Barça will try to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League this Wednesday evening in Munich.
Even if he accuses the weight of years, Gerard Piqué (35 years old on February 2) remains a frame of the Blaugrana.
While at the same time pursuing an insatiable career as a businessman.
Pique relies in particular on Kosmos, a company he founded in 2017, and therefore the main coup is the acquisition of the Davis Cup.
With a strategy that is not always clear.
Emmanuel Macron, Kim Jong-un or even Melania Trump… From time to time, rumors of personalities replaced by look-alikes flourish on the Internet, between two theories on chemtrails and the flat Earth.
Strangely, Gerard Pique has never been the target of such gossip, despite his countless activities that seem impossible to fit into the day of a normal human.
Irremovable defender of FC Barcelona, who will try to save what can still be saved this Wednesday evening in Munich, the 34-year-old Catalan is also a jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur.
Capable of investing, outside the sporting field, in the minced steak industry (Natrus) as well as in optics (Kypers glasses), or of launching an improbable World Cup of balloons with its company Kosmos Global Holding, founded in 2017.
The Balloon World Cup, Piqué's latest genius idea https://t.co/QvSTDpHOOT
- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) October 14, 2021
“I don't know where he finds the energy to combine everything, it's impressive,” says Nicolas Julia, founder and boss of Sorare.
However, he remains very available for Sorare and to help us develop.
The French start-up born in 2018 offers a fantasy football game that caught the eye of Piqué, promoted to strategic advisor.
"Gerard opens the doors to us"
“We were able to meet in Paris through a mutual friend and he was very interested in the game and the blockchain ecosystem,” explains Nicolas Julia.
Gérard opens the doors to certain clubs, leagues and organizations that he knows well.
In addition, he accompanies us through his company Kosmos on our program of legends [digital cards of past and current football stars].
"
Kosmos here, Kosmos there ... Tennis lovers have discovered this entity founded in 2017 during the purchase of the venerable Davis Cup, via an investment valued at around 2.4 billion euros over 25 years, to the chagrin of purists and most French tennis players.
“He seized an opportunity, judge Lionel Maltese, lecturer at Aix-Marseille University, specializing in sports management.
The Soccer World Cup works, the Handball and Rugby World Cups too, so why not the Tennis World Cup?
He said to himself that she was at half mast because she could not find her format and attract the best players.
"
The Davis Cup Pique style is still looking for itself
Format re-studied and collected over time, "prize money" revised upwards ... After two editions in 2019 and 2020-21 - upset it is true by the Covid - the results seem very mixed.
"Before, sportingly it was not terrible and economically it was bogus," continues the academic, former member of the executive committee of the FFT (from 2017 to 2020) and involved in the Marseille Open 13 as in the tournament of Lyon.
Now it's a little better sporting.
But is it profitable?
To my knowledge, no.
"
The proof ?
The Davis Cup could take over the next five years the direction of Abu Dhabi, known more for its petrodollars than for its centuries-old love of tennis.
More broadly, Lionel Maltese wonders about the nature and strategy of Kosmos.
“We don't really know what it is. We know that there are shareholders, that the CEO of Rakuten [Japanese e-commerce giant, also title sponsor of the Davis Cup] is present. It is a fund that buys things, that positions itself. But it is not a listed company, it does not communicate on its assets, it does not have a stadium, partnerships have been set up with its shareholders and friends. There is no long-term content like the Coca-Cola deal with the FIFA World Cup. "
The 2010 world champion and 2012 European champion with Spain landed in a sport he loves to practice since childhood, but of which he would not master the codes, and where companies like IMG-McCormack and Octagon , both tournament organizers and players' agencies, are already firmly established and not necessarily shared.
“Kosmos has financial resources,” admits Lionel Maltese.
But for me, it's the men who make the companies.
The important thing is how the money is transformed into skills.
Shakira's companion would therefore be in a learning phase, in the wake of a Masters in sports business obtained at Harvard on the sidelines of his career.
Father lawyer and businessman, mother neurologist, maternal grandfather (Amador Bernabeu) former vice-president of Barça… The best enemy of Real Madrid fans has always been immersed in Catalan high society, and has further grown his pretty address book since her union with the wealthy Colombian singer.
Presidency dream
What to hope to achieve in the long term its ultimate and avowed objective: the presidency of the Blaugrana. “He clearly demonstrated that he had the skills to defend the interests of FC Barcelona, appreciates Ayman of the @FrenchFCB Twitter account, which attracts more than 250,000 subscribers. Moreover, former president Bartomeu had declared that the defender was in the organization of the partnership between Rakuten and the club, by organizing a meeting in 2016. We can also think that he has already started his "training" by doing the acquisition of FC Andorra. "
Still on the football side, Kosmos recovered this summer the rights to Ligue 1 for Spain for the next three seasons. And it allowed the co-broadcasting of the first steps of his former colleague Leo Messi at PSG on the Twitch channel of Ibai Llanos, a famous streamer in addition to the Pyrenees and Piqué's partner in an e-sport team.
Does such hyperactivity make Barça fans dizzy? "Pique is considered a legend of FC Barcelona," Ayman continues. This success and longevity command respect. But his irregularity in recent years and his image as a "businessman" tarnish his image as a leader. Obviously, supporters are legitimately asking questions: how can one of the captains of one of the most demanding club in the world take on the role of a businessman while being focused on his performance and his role within of a young workforce? "
From the height of his 1.94 m, Pique, with his demeanor of a well-born young man to whom nothing can resist, does not seem won over by doubt.
If he has already experienced failures in business, for example when he closed his first video game company three years ago, Kerad Games, which had become loss-making, it would take more to dampen his enthusiasm.
"He understands business matters very quickly and he is very 'hands on'," says Nicolas Julia, Sorare's boss.
In other words: "he likes to get his hands dirty", even if, because of his sporting obligations, he is currently obliged to delegate a lot.
Tony Parker, an example for Pique?
“I know someone who does more or less the same as Pique but without knowing any failures for the moment, it's Tony Parker, loose Lionel Maltese.
He is involved in a lot of things, even if he is less publicized.
Like Pique, these are people who have resources, but I have the impression that Parker is trying to structure an organization around him.
The two men could continue their parallel trajectory in a few years by sitting on the throne of institutions in danger: the Catalan on that of Barça, the French on that of Olympique Lyonnais.
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Ligue 1: Gérard Piqué buys the TV rights to the championship for Spain
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