Many will speak – with good reason – of Inter Miami CF’s long climb from the Eastern Conference basement to MLS Cup presented by Audi glory in the two and a half years since Lionel Messi arrived, with his FC Barcelona friends Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets in tow, to transform the club in every sense.
Yet the Herons’ journey to Saturday's joyful trophy hoist runs a great deal longer than that.
“Look around you; this is beautiful,” homegrown defender Ian Fray, who grew up just a few miles north of Chase Stadium, told FOX’s Maurice Edu in the exuberant aftermath of the Herons’ 3-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
“We've gone through some really tough times at this club, and now to see it all, it all happened for a reason."
Long road
IMCF first took the pitch in 2020 and struggled in those early seasons.
But merely reaching that point was a triumph given the challenges David Beckham and his fellow investors had weathered to reach that point. It took several years to earn the MLS expansion slot awarded in 2018 – a reward for an effort that began in 2014 and stretched back even further, to a clause the English icon had negotiated in his contract as a paradigm-shifting Designated Player with the LA Galaxy.
Beckham shifted global perceptions of what footballing stardom could look like in his playing days, and his Miami project appears to be pacing MLS towards new horizons.
"Without David Beckham,” IMCF president of business operations Xavier Asensi told BBC this week, “none of us would be sitting here.”
Staying committed
Finding a stadium site was also difficult. Several proposed locations fizzled early on before the Herons settled on their training facility and temporary home ground in Fort Lauderdale while advancing on Miami Freedom Park, the privately-funded $1 billion gameday venue and mixed-use development near Miami International Airport, which will debut next April.
Now they’ll have a championship banner to hoist on opening day at the new place.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights,” Beckham told MLS Season Pass reporter Jillian Sakovits as his team celebrated their championship. “But you know what, I always believed in Miami. I always believed in bringing the team here. I found the right partners, and when I found the right partners, I knew that anything was possible. Like what it says on the back of our shirts: ‘Freedom to Dream.’
“We always promised our fans that we would bring success. We always promised our fans that we would bring the best players, and today, we've achieved that.”
Messi capture
Recruiting Messi, the linchpin who would so fundamentally change everything, setting off a “tidal wave” for the entire league in the words of former IMCF chief soccer officer Chris Henderson, took some three years in and of itself.
Managing owner Jorge Mas – another key protagonist in this tale – and his team jetted around the world to present their plans, meeting with the GOAT and his inner circle in Paris, Barcelona, his hometown of Rosario, Argentina and even in Doha, where he finally secured his international legacy by leading La Albiceleste to World Cup glory in 2022.
Major investment was also made in ensuring his pals, Alba and Busquets, signed up for the adventure, bringing on-field quality as well as aura and influence.
“They came here to Inter Miami and they changed the mentality,” head coach Javier Mascherano said postgame on Saturday. “They changed – with Leo – the entire club.”
Project vindicated
Even after all that, even after those breathless early days of Miami’s Messi era, as he led La Rosanegra to the 2023 Leagues Cup with the whole world watching, IMCF were not an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs team. Lacking depth and flawed defensively, they would finish 27th in the overall MLS table, hitting a wall in the season’s final weeks.
Mas & Co. were relentless in their push to upgrade the squad, pulling every lever at their disposal, spending aggressively, pushing the envelope, and always seeking an advantage.
Strikingly, two of their final moves of the most recent transfer window turned out to be the most important: Convincing Rodrigo De Paul to leave behind the bright lights of Atlético Madrid to join his friend Messi in July, and signing Argentine youth international Mateo Silvetti from Newell’s Old Boys, Messi’s childhood club, via the U22 Initiative in August.
Silvetti’s verticality galvanized the Herons’ attack on their postseason push, and De Paul scored the game-winner in MLS Cup.
“Hard,” answered Mas when asked by Sakovits to describe the journey. “It's worth every single effort, but it's always all based on dreaming of building a great team, bringing the best players in the world. We say goodbye today to two generational players. My message there: We’ll reload and we’ll defend in ’26.
“What an afternoon, what a season,” he said. “Dreams come true. Tremendous effort by the team. Kudos to Vancouver, but to do it at home, lift the MLS Cup, have a star over our shield forever – it's just an amazing feeling. It's an amazing feeling.”
Aim big
This Cup capture looks likely to resonate more than most.
It’s vindication: for the superstars wooed, the massive money spent, the sheer sweeping ambition of Mas, Beckham, Messi and their colleagues. IMCF’s Forbes valuation has approximately doubled since the GOAT arrived, their social-media presence has grown vast, and revenues have skyrocketed to reportedly rank tops in MLS – and that’s before the glittering new stadium opens its doors.
The message to their league counterparts rings out loud and clear, both on the pitch and in the front office, especially as what could be a transformative World Cup 2026 looms: Keep up, or get left in the dust. Because the Herons plan to go for more.
“This has to be a push for the club,” said Mascherano. “Don’t settle for winning the first league title, but go for more. I think the club has taken the right steps – not this year, but the last few years. Take advantage of this momentum for what’s coming.”
