Inter Miami set an MLS record for most points earned in a season (74) as it finished off its Supporters Shield-winning campaign Saturday. As the players sat on the stage awaiting the trophy presentation, it was delayed for an on-field announcement.
Flanked by Miami owners David Beckham, Jorge Mas and Jose Mas, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced Miami has qualified for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup by virtue of their regular-season title. Additionally, Infantino confirmed, as the host team of the expanded tournament, the Club World Cup’s opening match would be held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, a 65,326-seat venue that hosts the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
After a mixed reception of cheers and boos from the fans gathered at Chase Stadium, Infantino made the announcement.
“What an incredible club you have created here with your fans, with the players,” Infantino said. “Miami loves football. The world loves football, and the world loves Miami.”
🗣️CAMPEONES, CAMPEONES 🛡️💗🖤 ✨ pic.twitter.com/HdsIA5fEWk
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) October 20, 2024
Founded in 2020, Inter Miami endured a few middling seasons in MLS before forever changing its fate in the summer of 2023. In a matter of weeks, a team that opened the season among the league’s worst teams under Phil Neville was forever transformed, replacing Neville with Tata Martino as coach.
From there came the roster revamp, with Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets joining in the summer. In January, former FC Barcelona teammate Luis Suárez joined the cause, giving Miami a glitzy lineup of icons while supporting them with promising young players like Diego Gomez, who will join Brighton & Hove Albion this winter.
Infantino has been determined to kick off the new-look Club World Cup with bombast, as the 2025 iteration (the competition’s 21st) will see 32 teams compete from across six confederations. Twelve venues will play host to the tournament across the United States.
Only one slot remains up for grabs and will be determined in late November via the Copa Libertadores final.
However, the run-up to the summer jamboree has been far from smooth. In September, Infantino held an emergency meeting with global television executives in an attempt to drum up interest for the tournament, which does not yet have a single broadcast partner. The tournament is viewed by some as a cash-grabbing bloat to the sport’s already congested calendar, further hampering high-level players’ ability to rest and recover by taking up precious weeks from the summer offseason.
Miami enters the MLS Cup Playoffs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference and will open a best-of-three first round at Chase Stadium on Oct. 25. They’ll play the winner of the play-in round, contested between eighth-seeded C.F. Montréal and ninth-seeded Atlanta United.
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(Photo: Chris Arjoon/AFP via Getty Images)
