In many ways, the story of Inter Miami CF doesn’t start with the club at all. It doesn’t even start in Miami.
It starts in LA in 2007, during contract negotiations between MLS and David Beckham, who was about to sign for LA Galaxy and propel the club, and the league, onto the global stage.
As part of his contract, Beckham secured an option to purchase an expansion franchise at a set price of $25 million – a bargain even back then, which actually ended up causing some internal friction with other franchises. This was the nucleus of Inter Miami CF – or to use their full name, Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami – but it would take more than a decade to become a reality.
There were many hurdles to jump for the club to get there, but when it did, Inter Miami was instantly one of the most heavily scrutinised expansion clubs in the history of MLS.
The Beckham connection was not the only cause of this, but it was only because of Beckham that the club came into existence at all. Even though it arrived late, complicated, and not fully formed, it has quickly become the biggest brand in Major League Soccer, with supporters all over the world.
Club Statistics and Key Info
- Date Founded: 2018
- First Game: March 1, 2020 (vs. Los Angeles FC)
- Stadium: Nu Stadium
- Capacity: 26,700
- Nicknames: The Herons
- Rivals: Emerging regional tensions with Orlando City and Atlanta United
- Biggest Win: 5–0 vs. Orlando City (March 2nd, 2024)
- Biggest Loss: 1–6 vs. FC Cincinnati (July 6th, 2024)
- Player With Most Appearances: Drake Callender (118)
- Top Goal Scorer: Lionel Messi (83 and counting)
Most Notable Players by Position
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Nick Marsman (2021–2023), Drake Callender (2022–2025) |
| Defenders | DeAndre Yedlin (2022–2024), Jordi Alba (2023–2025) |
| Midfielders | Sergio Busquets (2023–2025), Blaise Matuidi (2020–2022), Rodolfo Pizarro (2020–2023) |
| Forwards | Lionel Messi (2023– ), Gonzalo Higuaín (2020–2022), Luis Suárez (2024– ) |
Trophies Won
| Competition | Year(s) |
|---|---|
| Leagues Cup | 2023 |
| Supporters’ Shield | 2024 |
| MLS Cup | 2025 |
The Ownership: Beckham Miami United
.jpg){kind=link}
David Beckham might have had the $25 million expansion clause, but that was just the expansion fee. It would take an awful lot more money than that to actually create the club.
To get things off the ground, Beckham needed investors, and this was where Miami Beckham United (MBU) came into existence. This wasn’t supposed to be the name of the club, it was the name of the investment group that would fund the club. It was a business vehicle to get the job done.
A man of David Beckham’s stature didn’t find it hard to get meetings with potential investors, and some of those who put their money in early included:
- Simon Fuller – Manager and producer behind American Idol and long time friend/business partner via Victoria Beckham.
- Marcelo Claure – CEO of Sprint and a high-profile tech and telecom executive, providing financial backing and business credibility during the early stages.
- Masayoshi Son – CEO and founder of SoftBank, a Japanese investment holding company.
There were others, but some came and went as progress stalled and then gathered pace again.
This is unusual, because most MLS expansion franchises have a clear ownership structure in place ahead of time. With Beckham’s Inter Miami, it was the idea first, and the structure later. This also contributed to their issues getting the club up and running.
That is, until Jorge Mas and Jose Mas got involved in 2017. The brothers and joint owners of MasTec (telecoms, construction, and energy infrastructure), brought local influence, lots of experience in large scale development, and most importantly, plenty of cash. This gave Inter Miami the stability it needed to finally make a successful bid to join MLS.
Early Years and Instability
Expansion teams often struggle, but Inter Miami was a globally recognised project under constant scrutiny.
Having been awarded an expansion franchise in 2018, their inaugural season took place in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. This robbed Inter Miami of the big launch season they had hoped for. The season was split, they played to empty or socially distanced stadiums, training was difficult due to the virus. It was very difficult for them to find any momentum.
After how long it had taken for the club to get to this point, it was far from the glamourous arrival they had envisioned.
Things didn’t improve much once the world was back to normal.
The team finished 19th and 20th in their first two seasons, sacking their first head coach, Diego Alonso, after barely a year in charge. What’s more, their stadium still wasn’t built, so they played at an interim venue in Fort Lauderdale. The club already owned this, as it was bought as a training complex and to be the home of their MLS Next team and youth academy, but with no ground broken on their main stadium, it became the temporary home of the first team.
This reflected the position of the club as a whole. It existed, but it wasn’t quite ready yet.
To make matters worse, in 2021, Inter Miami were sanctioned by MLS for violating roster rules relating to player signings. It was an expensive error financially and reputationally, making the club look dysfunctional which, when added to their inconsistent performances on the pitch, was a very bad look.
It was starting to look like Inter Miami were to be a cautionary tale about how too much ambition without proper structure can cause disaster.
Then, in 2023, everything changed.
2023: The Arrival of Messi
When Messi was announced as an Inter Miami player in 2023, it was legitimately the biggest news for MLS since David Beckham. Arguably the biggest news ever.
The first half of the year had been extremely disappointing, especially after a much improved 2022 which had seen the club qualify for the playoffs for the first time ever.
It was Beckham’s old Manchester United teammate, Phil Neville, who had been head coach at the time. He took over at the start of 2021, but in June of 2023 he was sacked after a 7 game losing streak.
In July, the club announced the signing of Lionel Messi, otherwise known as the GOAT, and the media attention around Inter Miami exploded. He wasn’t the only one either, with fellow former Barcelona legends Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba joining him.
The team went on to win the Leagues Cup that year, the Supporter’s Shield in 2024 (with Luis Suarez added to the roster), and finally, the MLS Cup in 2025.
Inside three years, Inter Miami had gone from a struggling expansion team with no permanent home and no real identity, to one of the strongest teams in MLS and a destination for international stars who wanted one final challenge before retirement.
The Stadium Struggle
Although Inter Miami moved into their permanent home, the Nu Stadium, in April 2026, it was a long time coming. It wasn’t the construction that was the issue though, it was deciding where to build it.
Initially, a waterfront stadium was the aim, and they wanted it ready for the club’s inaugural season. But a combination of political objections, land ownership complications, and issues regarding traffic and infrastructure eventually made these plans unworkable. And they tried several times.
A number of sites were considered, including the Port of Miami stadium on Dodge Island, Downtown Miami in the Museum Park area, Overtown and Little Havana. They all ticked the right sorts of boxes, such as being visually tied to the city itself via the skyline or waterfront, not just the wider metro area, a central Miami location, strong transport links, high visibility, and the potential to deliver a stadium that reflected the city’s identity while supporting wider commercial development. But in each case, there was too much red tape.
The club even began to consider developing the Fort Lauderdale stadium out of desperation, but this wouldn’t have been right.
Eventually, they found the Melreese golf course near Miami International Airport, but even this wasn’t a simple process. The land was publicly owned so it needed city approval, public votes, and a complex lease agreement. A final agreement wasn’t reached until 2022, and that included some compromises to satisfy concerns about the environment and loss of green space. This cost more money and more time to resolve.
Once ground was broken in 2023 the stadium was built relatively quickly as far as these things go, but getting to the point of ‘boots on the ground’ was incredibly frustrating for everyone involved.