“Miami loves football. The world loves football, and the world loves Miami.”
That was the claim made by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on October 19 when he announced that Inter Miami had, under FIFA’s convenient parameters, qualified for next summer’s revamped Club World Cup in the United States.
Led by Lionel Messi, Inter Miami earned an invitation to the 32-team tournament (up from seven previously) after winning the Supporters’ Shield. That trophy is awarded to the MLS team with the best record over the 34-game regular season. Miami also set a new regular season points record with 74.
“You are the best team of the season in America,” Infantino said. “You can tell your story to the world.”
Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas called it “an honor” to take part in the Club World Cup, with David Beckham summing up Miami’s moment. “This has always been about making history for Miami,” he said.
The four-year-old club will now host the opening match of the Club World Cup at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on June 15, nine days before Messi’s 38th birthday. If Argentina’s captain does not continue playing so he can participate in the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, the Club World Cup could be the last big chance to capitalize on Messi’s exorbitant global reach as a player.
Messi shakes hands with Infantino earlier this month (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
It was no surprise that FIFA found a way to virtually guarantee his inclusion in the first match of the revamped Club World Cup.
Messi’s takeover of American football coincides with FIFA’s own attempt to enter the North American market. The sport’s governing body has moved a number of offices and staff from Zurich, Switzerland, to Florida, including the organization’s entire legal department. “We have more than 100 colleagues here who deal with legal and compliance matters and take care of all legal aspects of the company,” said Emilio Garcia Silvero, FIFA’s head of legal and compliance.ce officer, told The Athletics from its headquarters in Miami’s Coral Gables neighborhood.
Logistically it makes sense. The next men’s World Cup will be hosted by three North and Central American countries. South American Brazil will host the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and the United States will compete for the 2031 edition. By establishing a presence in Miami, FIFA can further strengthen its relationship with CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America), two confederations whose influence continues to grow.
“We knew we had to open an office outside Europe, outside Switzerland,” says Garcia Silvero. ‘And why Miami? It’s not just because Messi is here. Miami is the perfect hub for North America, Central America and South America. It is the perfect hub to have almost 50 FIFA members.”
If player transfers are what interests you most in world football, FIFA’s legal and compliance office in Miami oversaw a record 74,836 cross-border moves in 2023, an organization spokesperson said. They also handled more than 18,000 cases and investigations received by the FIFA Football Tribunal. According to FIFA, the majority of these cases involved contractual disputes between clubs, players and coaches.
Whether intentional or not, FIFA has linked the move to Miami to Messi’s huge presence in the city and the wave of major tournaments coming to the United States. They are not alone. The Argentine Football Association has plans to build multiple training facilities in the Miami area ahead of the 2026 World Cup, where they will be defending champions (assuming they qualify).
Infantino told the FIFA website from the field of Inter Miami’s current Chase Stadium home on Oct. 19 that the organization was there to “transform this country,” crediting the MLS club and its owners with the opportunity to “make soccer the premier sport in North America.” to make America”.
His idealism regarding the continued growth of soccer in the U.S. contrasts with the realities the sport has always faced here. Football will never outgrow the NFL or American football at the college level. Football in America will never take over basketball’s NBA, a league whose international footprint continues to grow. These days, baseball isn’t America’s favorite pastime, but this time of year the country is hyper-focused on the MLB postseason, leading up to the World Series.
Mas and Infantino at Chase Stadium (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
MLS and broadcast partner Apple want more people to watch Messi play. Seems obvious, right? One of the greatest players to ever grace the sport is the current face of American football. Messi is a celebrity from area code 305 (Miami area) who is on the verge of winning the league’s MVP award after a spectacular 19-game season.
But unless you’re an MLS Season Pass subscriber with Apple, the Messi and Inter Miami content you consume comes down to Instagram footage and YouTube highlights.
That’s not a particularly bad thing.
Messi flies the MLS flag and he can move mountains with a sound bite or an 11-minute hat trick on the final day of the MLS regular season. But Apple doesn’t release ratings, so we don’t know what Messi’s impact really was. This refusal to do so, coupled with the MLS’ historically low television numbers, would lead anyone with common sense to assume that Apple’s 10-year, $2.5 billion broadcast deal has not delivered as expected.
That raises legitimate questions about Apple’s strategy to attract audiences to its MLS product. Messi represents a unique opportunity that won’t last much longer, but the Messi brand has never competed with American sports culture.
In general, sports other than football dominate the news cycle during the fall season in the United States. Clutter has always been an obstacle for the MLS. To counter this, even if only a little, the league announced on October 3 that Inter Miami would begin its best-of-three series against Atlanta United on Friday. It would be the only MLS playoff game of the evening, on October 25, and would be available for free on Apple TV.
On Saturday, the city of Miami was scheduled to host a rivalry game between the University of Miami and Florida State University. Sunday was supposed to mark the long-awaited return for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins of star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after suffering a concussion on September 12. So Friday would be Inter Miami’s moment to shine.
Until it wasn’t anymore.
When the New York Yankees clinched a spot in the World Series on October 19, MLS league officials and Apple executives must have groaned.
Apple and MLS had announced a series of promotions surrounding Messi, including a special camera that would follow the Inter Miami captain exclusively on the league’s Tik Tok account. It was a novel idea, but one that did little to move the needle.
The big step was to broadcast the Inter Miami match live from New York’s famous Times Square on a 70-foot digital TV screen. But with the Yankees currently playing the Dodgers in game one of the World Series in Los Angeles, the plan was scrapped. That’s according to an MLS spokesperson The Athletics Saturday that the broadcast had been postponed to a later date.
Still, those who defeated Miami 2-1 saw a very entertaining match. Game two is this Saturday, November 2 in Atlanta, where an expected crowd of 70,000 will provide MLS with another opportunity to showcase Messi to the rest of the world.
Messi in action against Atlanta United (Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Miami will be a focus point for FIFA. Spanish clubs Barcelona – Messi’s former team – and Atletico Madrid want to organize a La Liga match in the city. At the same time, Inter Miami’s popularity is increasing. However, the club’s path to relevance from a television viewer’s point of view is largely shrouded in obscurity. At best, this has been seen by a mix of loyal but niche American fans from the MLS and newcomers from around the world who subscribe to watch Messi.
Mas is the man responsible for bringing Messi to MLS. It wasn’t easy. There were many moments of uncertainty during the years of courtship. And while much more should be done to market the MLS/Messi product, things couldn’t have gone better for Miami.
“Four years ago, David (Beckham), myself and Jose (Mas) promised two things,” Mas said last week before a sold-out crowd at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, a short drive north of Miami. “Number one is that the eyes of the world, when they think of ‘football’ in America, is posted here. They will think of Inter Miami. Tonight I say: ‘Check’.
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(Top photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)