CINCINNATI — The greatest soccer player ever will likely be in Cincinnati on August 23.
Lionel Messi, widely regarded as the best footballer of all time after winning multiple international player of the year awards and most recently a World Cup, signed with FC Cincinnati's MLS opponent Inter Miami after months of speculation. He is expected to join the team sometime in July.
FC Cincinnati already played Miami at TQL Stadium as part of the regular season this year, but Inter Miami won its U.S. Open Cup game on Wednesday, meaning in the semifinal round of the mid-season tournament, they will play FC Cincinnati again on August 23. A draw for who hosts the match determined it will be played in the West End of Cincinnati. Tickets are not yet on sale. FC Cincinnati said season ticket holders will first have an exclusive window to buy tickets for the match. Those who have made deposits on 2024 season tickets will then get a separate exclusive pre-sale. The club did not give an exact date when those pre-sales would take place.
Messi will inevitably be in Cincinnati at some point next year when Miami and the orange and blue play in the regular season. And FCC does travel to Miami later this regular season for an away game when Messi is slated to be on the squad. But it's unlikely there will be another opportunity in Cincy this year, as Miami is in last place in the Eastern Conference and unlikely to make the playoffs.
The Messi effect on the MLS is huge. The league has long-signed international superstars after they had passed their primes. But Messi, the best player in the world, is fresh off of a World Cup win, and still a huge draw for any soccer fan. He is undoubtedly the biggest signing in the history of the league, and will draw more fans to stadiums, and to Apple TV's MLS Season Pass, which Messi reportedly has an earnings stake in as part of his contract.
Messi has more than 800 goals in his career for club and country, making him one of the greatest scorers in the sport’s history. In more than 17 years of representing Argentina on the international stage, he has scored 102 goals against 38 different national team opponents — 16 of those goals coming on U.S. soil. He scored twice in last year’s World Cup final against France, a match that ended 3-3 with Argentina prevailing 4-2 on penalty kicks.
He has been to the absolute mountaintop of the game. He is a four-time Champions League winner and his 129 goals in the top club competition are second only to Ronaldo’s 140. Messi has won 10 La Liga titles and two Ligue 1 championships, seven Copa del Reys and three Club World Cups plus a Copa América and Olympic gold medal for Argentina.
It took months of negotiations with MLS, the Miami ownership, Adidas and even Apple getting involved in a creative pitch to bring Messi to Miami’s pitch. Apple announced Tuesday that it will show a still-untitled four-part documentary series “featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes access to global superstar Lionel Messi. ... In his own words, Messi tells the definitive story of his incredible career with the Argentina national football team, providing an intimate and unprecedented look at his quest for a legacy-defining World Cup victory.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
