Lionel Messi walked out from behind a curtain, took a couple of steps alongside a rain-slicked runaway arrange over the sector at Inter Miami's stadium and headed towards David Beckham for a giant hug.

His journey was full. Inter Miami's wait was over.

At lengthy final, Messi has arrived.

Inter Miami — after years of plotting, pleading and hoping — launched arguably the sport's greatest star on Sunday night time, presenting their new franchise participant together with his pink No. 10 jersey that thousands and thousands of individuals might be shopping for over the approaching weeks and months.

"I'm sure we're going to have many wonderful experiences,” Messi told the crowd.

Sunday was the first one. Almost every seat was filled despite horrible weather conditions that delayed the show, and nobody seemed to mind soaking rain that pounded down throughout the evening.

“I'm very much moved to be here in Miami, to be with you,” Messi said. “I want to thank you, all of you, on behalf of my family, for the kindness that you have given me.” Beckham, the team's co-owner and president, had huge dark blotches on his blue blazer because of the rain.

It was going to take more than a downpour to ruin this party, one where fans roared and music boomed.

“Tonight is a typical Miami welcome for one of the greatest players to ever have played the game," Beckham stated throughout the telecast of the present. "The indisputable fact that now we have our followers in right here, celebrating this second ... that is what now we have created and we're very happy with that.” Added major proprietor Jorge Mas, “When David and I first met and we dreamt of what Inter Miami represents, it started off with the freedom to dream. And we dreamed of not only bringing elite players and the best players but the best player to ever don boots — and his name is Lionel Andrés Messi.”

When Inter Miami started floating the notion that it could be the staff to land Messi and produce the World Cup champion to Major League Soccer, there have been no scarcity of people that have been, to place it mildly, skeptical about how practical a plan that was.

Among them: MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Yes, even the person working the league had a little bit of doubt.

Not anymore. Messi to Miami is not simply loopy discuss. It occurred, with Messi now tasked to elevate a staff that at the moment has the fewest factors within the MLS standings and is mired in an 11-game winless streak.

“Here we are today with a player that I think, without doubt, is not only a generational player but in my opinion the greatest of all time,” Garber stated. “Went through a process throughout his decision-making period over the last number of months, if not the last year, to determine where he was going to play. Many of you have heard us say that we want MLS to be a league of choice, a league of choice for players, for fans, for partners, and ultimately for investors.

“And when you have the best player of all-time making Major League Soccer his league of choice, I think it's a real testament to where MLS is and where it's going in the years ahead.” The occasion billed as “The Unveil” occurred on the staff's stadium in Fort Lauderdale. It comes someday after Messi, MLS and Inter Miami finalized his signing via the 2025 season.

It's the beginning of a busy week of occasions for Messi together with his new membership. His first official coaching session that might be open to reporters is about for Tuesday and — if all goes to plan — he'll play Friday in a Leagues Cup match towards Cruz Azul. That may be the Miami debut of World Cup winner Sergio Busquets, a Spanish midfielder who accomplished his long-awaited signing with the membership Sunday via the 2025 season.

Busquets, who turned 35 on Sunday, and the 36-year-old Messi have been teammates beforehand at Barcelona.

“This is a special and exciting opportunity that I'm very excited to take,” Busquets stated.

Messi, a World Cup champion for Argentina and seven-time Ballon d'Or winner because the world's greatest participant in a given 12 months, is becoming a member of a membership that has the fewest factors in MLS and is mired in an 11-match winless streak. Inter Miami opened the season with two wins and has gone 3-14-3 since. It has 12 MLS matches left this season, and is 12 factors out of a playoff spot — so it should take a ton of wins simply to have an opportunity.

The membership beforehand introduced that Messi's deal might be for two 1/2 seasons and can pay him between $50 million and $60 million yearly — placing the entire contract worth between $125 million and $150 million in money alone. There are different components, the worth of which is not identified.

“This ought to be fun. ... This journey here in Miami has been an epic one,” Garber stated.

Messi's greatness is just not in query; he led Argentina to the World Cup this previous December and continues to be typically thought-about one of many perfect goalscorers on the earth — if not the most effective.

That stated, not everybody believes Messi coming to MLS might be a cakewalk, even for a legend.

“He won't find it easy here,” Wayne Rooney, the previous England and Manchester United nice who now coaches D.C. United, instructed The Times of London for a narrative printed Sunday. “It sounds mad, but players who come in find it's a tough league. The travelling, the different conditions in different cities, and there's a lot of energy and intensity on the pitch.” But Rooney additionally is aware of how Messi enjoying right here is large for MLS, and large for soccer within the U.S.

“Americans love winners,” Rooney stated. “Above all, they want to see skill and to be entertained, and Messi brings all that.” Messi introduced his resolution in early June, and the buildup to Sunday was rising ever since.

“This is our moment,” Mas stated. “Our moment to change the futbol landscape in this country.”