Inter Miami only needed five years of activity to win its first championship and consolidate itself as one of the most successful projects in the recent history of North American football. The meteoric rise of the club, which reached the play-offs in its first season in 2020, is closely linked to the names of David Beckham and Lionel Messi – two figures who changed the direction of the franchise with the same naturalness with which they wrote their exploits on the pitch.
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Beckham’s idea to found a club in Miami arose long before Inter officially took the field. In 2007, when signing with the LA Galaxy, the former English midfielder inserted a clause which allowed him, after his retirement, to acquire an MLS franchise for around 20 million euros. In January 2018, the project started with the announcement of Inter Miami as an expansion club, scheduled to debut in 2020. The match against Los Angeles FC on March 1 of the same year marked the start of an accelerated journey to the main role.
The first big name to arrive at Chase Stadium was Gonzalo HiguaÃn, in 2020, still at a time when the team was in search of identity and results. But the turning point would come three years later, when Messi – leaving PSG – surprised the world and adopted the Miami project. The Argentinian arrived in July 2023, accompanied by a reunion with former Barcelona partners: Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. The immediate League Cup victory that year revealed the team’s sporting and commercial potential, despite the modest MLS campaign, in which they finished only 14th out of 15 Eastern teams.
Even with setbacks, the club continued to invest in the chemistry between the stars. In 2024, Luis Suárez completed the meeting of the quartet that marked an era in Europe and produced an immediate impact: 25 goals in the season and unprecedented leadership of the Eastern Conference in the regular phase. Atlanta United’s play-off setback, however, led to changes to the coaching staff and made way for another familiar face to take charge.
Javier Mascherano, Messi’s former teammate at Barcelona and the Argentina national team, arrived at the club with the challenge of combining talent, experience and ambition. In just a few months, he led Inter Miami to the first title in its history and also took the team to the round of 16 of the Club World Cup, eliminating Porto in a duel marked by an anthological goal from Messi, in Atlanta.
The numbers of number 10 in Miami are already part of the footballing imagination: he has 77 goals and 44 assists in 88 matches, a performance that defies time and reinforces the question that permeates world sport.
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