Sky Sports Ends Baller League Partnership

Sky Sports has walked away from the Baller League.

The broadcaster has decided not to extend its deal to show next season’s edition of the celebrity six-a-side competition, which is backed by KSI, Idris Elba and former England greats Ian Wright and Alan Shearer.

KSI’s Prime FC lifted the trophy in last season’s final at a sold-out O2 Arena, a glitzy showpiece carried live by Sky and pushed heavily across social media. Audience figures were considered strong and engagement levels online were seen as a clear success. Even so, sources say Sky viewed the collaboration as having run its course and chose not to renew.

Born in Germany in 2024 with heavyweight support from World Cup winners Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski, Baller League has grown at speed. The UK edition arrived in 2025, bringing a familiar cast of former professionals into the dugout. Jens Lehmann, Micah Richards and England Lioness Chloe Kelly were among those taking on management roles across the 12-team competition. A US tournament followed this year, underlining the project’s ambition to become a global short-form football brand.

The format sits in the same booming space as Gerard Piqué’s Kings League, the seven-a-side brainchild launched in 2022. That competition has already spread to eight countries and secured a broadcast agreement with Dazn, setting the benchmark for this new wave of influencer-driven, bite-sized football.

Baller League is now in the market for a new television partner after its split with Sky. Talks are expected as it looks to keep pace with its rivals. Whatever happens, the tournament will continue to be shown on YouTube – the platform that first turned these made-for-clips football experiments into a fully fledged industry.