Ibai Llanos

Ibai Llanos was born on 26 March 1995 in Bilbao, Spain [1]. He is best known for La Velada del Año, an event he created [2] that has set the viewer records described below. He also founded the esports team KOI with Gerard Piqué [8], and he launched the Kings League football competition with him [6].

From esports commentary to full-time streaming

His early career was in esports. He joined LVP, the Spanish professional league, and worked there as an esports commentator [1]. Around 2020 he moved to full-time streaming on Twitch [1].

His Basque roots show in his work. He has often expressed pride in his Basque heritage and regularly brings elements of that culture into his content [1]. The industry took notice of his output. Esports Awards named him Streamer of the Year in 2020 and 2022, and the 13th Streamy Awards gave him its International Streamer of the Year award in 2023 [1].

La Velada del Año, edition by edition

The first La Velada del Año was held in 2021 at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona, behind closed doors [10]. Tubefilter describes the fourth edition as an influencer boxing event [3]. The 2024 edition took place at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid [3].

The second edition, on 25 June 2022 at the Pavelló Olímpic in Badalona, drew a peak of more than 3.3 million concurrent viewers and broke the Twitch record for most viewers at the time [11].

The third edition, held on 1 July 2023 at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, a 60,000-capacity ground that is home to Atlético de Madrid, peaked at 3,499,999 viewers [4]. Stream Hatchet called that the highest viewership ever held by a single channel on Twitch, and noted that the previous record was also held by Ibai, at the second edition [4].

The fourth edition, at the Santiago Bernabéu on 13 July 2024, peaked at 3.85 million concurrent viewers on Ibai's account [3]. Tubefilter also reported that Twitch reached 6.74 million concurrent viewers sitewide, its highest-ever total [3]. The same article says the event sold out the Santiago Bernabéu, home of Real Madrid [3].

The fifth edition, held in Madrid on 26 July 2025, peaked at 9,334,179 concurrent viewers on Ibai's channel [2]. Invenglobal describes the event as a crossover boxing showcase created and hosted by Ibai [2]. Invenglobal called this the highest figure ever recorded for any livestreaming channel across all platforms [2]. The same Invenglobal report put his follower count at 19.7 million, which made him Twitch's most-followed streamer at the time [2].

The sixth edition was held on 25 July 2026 at Estadio La Cartuja in Seville [12] [5]. The stadium has a capacity of around 80,000 people [5]. Streams Charts reported a new series peak of 8.7 million viewers across all platforms [5]. The same report says the broadcast failed to break the Twitch platform record for the first time since the third edition, and it links part of that gap to multistreaming, which it says has become more widespread [5]. On Ibai's own channels, the Twitch peak was 2.08 million viewers and the YouTube figure was a personal record of 5.08 million [5].

Reading the viewer records

The word record covers several different measures, and outlets do not always use them the same way. The 2026 headline figure, however, is a series and all-platform number rather than a Twitch platform record [5]. Before comparing editions, check which measure a source is using.

The Kings League

Gerard Piqué, a former FC Barcelona and Spain defender, founded the Kings League, which launched in Barcelona in 2022 [13]. Ibai and Piqué teamed up to launch the seven-a-side football competition, an attempt to generate more interest in football among a younger audience [6]. Piqué has said that the idea came to him during a meal with Ibai [7]. RPP describes Piqué as the league's president [7]. Ibai chairs Porcinos FC, one of the league's teams, and announced a women's team, Porcinas [15]. Bendito Fútbol describes Porcinos FC as one of the league's founding teams [15].

The league's first broadcast matchday on its official Twitch channel generated 2.1 million hours watched and peaked at 413,000 viewers. The second broadcast, during the Xbuyer vs Kunisports match, generated 2.4 million hours watched and peaked at 601,000 [6].

The sources reviewed for this page credit Piqué with establishing the league and Ibai with launching it alongside him [13] [6].

KOI and the esports venture

According to Streams Charts, Ibai and Piqué's desire to enter esports first became known in September 2021, when the two acquired the Astralis Stormbringers team. Ibai teamed up with Piqué to found KOI [8].

KOI was first presented on 15 December 2021 at the Palau Sant Jordi Arena in Barcelona [8]. KOI later merged with OverActive Media and Movistar Riders to form Movistar KOI [14]. The same release calls KOI the esports team of Ibai Llanos and Gerard Piqué [14].

Stepping back from live streaming

In an EFE interview published on 10 July 2024, Ibai said that in about five years he expected to stop live broadcasts and make room for new generations [9]. He gave no date. He said he hoped for a calmer life away from the spotlight, and noted that five more years of streaming would mean close to ten years of nearly daily broadcasts [9]. That is a 2024 statement of intent rather than a dated announcement, and it should be read that way.