Gerard Piqué has become a strategic investor in one of the teams of the "Global Chess League". The former Spain star joins a growing list of athletes, Norway's Erling Haaland among them, turning towards a sport that is booming and steadily reinventing itself as a global entertainment and commercial product.
The 2010 World Cup winner, who founded the sports and media company "Kosmos", announced his stake in the "PBG Alaskan Knights" during a press conference in the Indian city of Bengaluru on Monday.
Piqué, the former Barcelona defender, said in a statement carried by the "Asharq Al-Awsat" newspaper: "Chess has always captured my interest thanks to its depth, its global appeal, and the immense mental strength it requires."
His investment lands amid a push to turn chess from a traditional game into a global sporting product, through international tournaments, digital content, sponsorship deals and live streaming platforms. The "American Gambits" team also counts former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin among its shareholders.
Haaland invested before Piqué
Erling Haaland got there first. The Norwegian striker ranks among the most prominent athletes to move into chess investment, joining the project with the backing of Norwegian investor Morten Borge.
Borge said: "There are many interesting similarities. Although Erling looks like a beast on the pitch, football at the highest level is also about preparation, strategy, timing, and understanding the decisive moments. From this standpoint, there are similarities with the game of chess."
According to Borge, Haaland was drawn to chess's focus on strategic thinking and mental discipline, two elements essential for holding your nerve under pressure.
The pull that Piqué and Haaland feel towards chess reflects a wider phenomenon in sport, with more and more athletes turning to the game to sharpen focus and develop decision-making skills.
Pep Guardiola, the former Manchester City manager, has cited chess and strategy on numerous occasions when talking about football.
Plenty of stars from other sports have spoken publicly about their relationship with chess and how they use it to develop their mental abilities. Former Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is one, along with tennis greats Boris Becker and Novak Djokovic.
Major commercial ambitions
Investors, for their part, see growing commercial opportunities in the sport, especially as the "Global Chess League", backed by the Indian technology company "Tech Mahindra" and the International Chess Federation, works to expand the game's fan base with shorter formats better suited to television and digital platforms.
Borge reckons chess is heading in the same direction as other niche sports that have broken beyond their traditional audience to reach a wider fan base.
He said: "When you can market a sport of limited reach, such as darts, while nearly a billion people around the world play chess, the opportunity is clear."
The "American Gambits" team will take part in the fourth edition of the "Global Chess League", hosted by Bengaluru next month.