Lionel Messi joining MLS: What to know about his contract, number, tickets and more
Lionel Messi will soon sign for Inter Miami FC of MLS, with an official announcement expected later this week. The Argentine World Cup-winner’s arrival will be heralded as a potentially transformational move for Major League Soccer, and as such it comes with plenty of questions.
Here are some of the big ones, answered in as much detail as we know right now:
Messi’s contract is for two and a half seasons with an option to extend for a further year. So, he’s under contract through 2025 with the option to stay through the 2026 season.
The Athletic first reported weeks ago that Inter Miami was targeting its first game in the Leagues Cup (a new competition involving every team in MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX), against Cruz Azul on July 21, to be Messi’s debut. That still figures to be the case.
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No. The MLS All-Star team that will face Arsenal in that game has already been selected, and after all, Messi’s debut is slated to be just two days after that matchup. It was always unlikely he’d travel to D.C. for that.
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Messi’s No. 10 shirts for Barcelona and Argentina remain iconic in the history of soccer, so much so that it was downright strange to see him wear the No. 30 in his two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain (even though he had worn that number previously as a youngster with Barça). Now, Messi is going back to a classic: he’ll almost certainly wear the No. 10 for Miami, which the club has purposely kept unfilled all season in hope/anticipation of his arrival.
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The Inter Miami No. 10 was previously worn by fellow Argentine Gonzalo Higuain in 2022, and Mexican Rodolfo Pizarro in 2021 and 2020.
The Bahamas. After finishing his season with Paris
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