Lionel Messi will make his Inter Miami debut off the bench tonight.
The 36-year-old was announced by the MLS club last weekend and has been training this week to bolster his fitness.
Sergio Busquets, who joined Miami earlier this week, is also expected to feature in the League’s Cup clash with Cruz Azul, but another of Messi’s former Barcelona teammates, Jordi Alba, who completed his own transfer on Thursday, will be absent after becoming a father this week.
Despite interest from Barcelona and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, Messi’s debut has been highly anticipated since he announced in early June that he had decided to move to MLS following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain.
Ticket prices for Messi’s first match at Inter Miami have soared since his transfer was announced. Resale ticket prices for Wednesday’s game against Cruz Azul range from $200 to $5,000.
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Messi completed his move to Inter Miami earlier this month, signing a two-and-a-half-season deal with the option to extend for another year in 2026.
He joined former manager Tata Martino at the club after taking over as head coach in June.
Messi attended his first training session in Fort Lauderdale with Busquets on Tuesday.
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Making of Messi: Special Audio Series The Athletic
To mark Messi’s move to Miami, A special 3-part audio series titled “The Making of Messi” A journey that tells how all roads ended up in Florida.
It charts not only his on-field ups and downs, but also his complex relationship with his homeland of Argentina, explaining the nuances of the unique deals that brought him to Miami, from stocks to selling shirts to Saudi Arabia.
Featuring the lyricism of James Horncastle at its finest, the local expertise of Michael Cox with unrivaled tactical acumen, Felipe Cardenas and Paul Tenorio, we get to the heart of what makes Messi tick both on and off the pitch.
can hear Watch ‘The Making of Messi’ full episode for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you get podcasts. Search for that title or The Athletic‘s documentary feed “Go Deeper”.
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Think you know Messi? Test yourself with our 20-question quiz
How can I watch Inter Miami matches on TV/streaming?
All Inter Miami games can be streamed worldwide ( some exceptions) via Apple TV MLS Season Pass subscription service. In the US, some matches are broadcast on Fox/FS1/Fox Deportes and League Cup matches he can watch on Univision/Unimas/TUDN.
For Inter Miami’s first two League Cup games, the season pass has theenhanced productionThis includes “18 cameras, a Steadicam, four super slow motion cameras, a Skycam, a drone, a sideline reporter in Spanish and English, an hour-long exclusive pre-match show on-site including features, interviews and expert analysis, and a post-match show to wrap things up.”
Why did it take so long to finalize the deal with Messi?
Analysis by Paul Tenorio, Pablo Maurer and Tom Bogart
MLS is a single organizational structure, meaning players are signed to leagues rather than individual teams.
But unlike a typical MLS contract, Messi’s contract was anything but simple. For a legendary and potentially league-changing deal, MLS and Inter Miami have come up with a compensation package to keep him from being tempted by Saudi Arabia.
Messi is presented to a fan by (from right) David Beckham, Jose R. Mas and Jorge Mas (Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Messi’s deal includes an option to buy a stake in Inter Miami, and part of the deal also calls for discussions with Apple on revenue sharing for new MLS season pass service signings. A person briefed on the negotiations said the deal with Apple is based on revenue from new international subscribers.
There are also issues such as the structure of the compensation itself, the tax implications of how the contract is crafted, and even marketing and publicity rights. These negotiations go down to the level of detail, such as which company owns the rights to Messi’s name and number 10 jersey for use on various products.
How much does Messi earn and who pays for it?
Messi’s contract is worth around $50-60 million a year, which includes the value of Inter Miami’s shares that will be effective after his tenure at the club.
In addition, Messi will receive additional income through MLS partners.
In addition to earning a portion of the new MLS Season Pass subscription on Apple TV, he will also receive compensation deals from Adidas (a longtime sponsor and kit maker of MLS and all 29 clubs) and Fanatics.
The Adidas and Apple portion of the deal is functionally separate from the base salary he pays as an MLS player. The MLS Players Association is expected to release salary details for all players later this year, as it did months ago. Messi’s jersey number is highly anticipated.
All parties see the agreement as a boon. Apple and MLS signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal this spring. Apple also announced that a four-part documentary series chronicling Messi’s record five World Cup appearances will be streamed on Apple TV+.
Adidas, meanwhile, has partnered with MLS since the league’s inception in 1996. The two renewed their partnership earlier this year with a six-year, $830 million extension through 2030. The German manufacturer supplies kits to all 29 MLS teams, designs the league’s official match balls and is the league’s official shoe sponsor.
Messi himself has a long-standing relationship with Adidas that began in 2006 and signed a lifetime shoe sponsorship deal with the company in 2017.
(Photo: Matthias J. Ochner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
