{"id":812711,"date":"2026-07-19T19:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T19:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/812711\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T19:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T19:20:10","slug":"where-soccer-players-have-bought-south-florida-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/812711\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Soccer Players Have Bought South Florida Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Consider this a World Cup edition of the South Florida Dirt.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From Coral Gables to Hallandale Beach, South Florida and its large population of Argentinians and soccer fans have embraced the sport and its biggest star, Lionel Messi. The World Cup, which ended its Miami run Saturday with the third-place match between England and France, brought a million tourists to the city, by some estimates. The size of their economic impact is up for debate, but the fact that so many soccer players have homes here speaks to long-term investment in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s in large part thanks to David Beckham and his partners, who founded the city\u2019s Major League Soccer team Inter Miami in 2018. They lured Messi in 2023. The rest is history.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at our coverage to round up some of the biggest real estate buys. Here\u2019s what I found.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lionel Messi<\/p>\n<p>In September 2023, Messi and his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2023\/09\/11\/lionel-messi-buys-waterfront-fort-lauderdale-mansion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid $10.8 million<\/a> for a waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Bay Colony neighborhood, ending weeks of speculation as to where they would settle down. Messi and his family also own three luxury condos in Sunny Isles Beach, including a unit at Porsche Design Tower and <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2021\/04\/21\/goooooool-lionel-messis-family-scores-condo-in-sunny-isles-beach\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an entire floor at Regalia<\/a>. Messi\u2019s also under contract to buy four units at Cipriani Residences, which is under construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Neymar<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Brazil\u2019s Neymar <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2024\/10\/28\/neymar-buys-waterfront-home-plot-in-miamis-bal-harbour\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid $26 million<\/a> for a waterfront residential plot in Bal Harbour, where he plans to build a home. In May of this year, the LLC that owns the 0.6-acre lot on Bal Bay Drive filed a notice of commencement for a new single-family home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kak\u00e1<\/p>\n<p>Kak\u00e1, considered one of the greatest soccer players of his era, <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2026\/07\/09\/footballer-kaka-buys-south-florida-condo-in-bal-harbour\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid $8.7 million<\/a> for a condo on the 14th floor of Oceana Bal Harbour, at 10203 Collins Avenue, earlier this year. The 3,350-square-foot condo has three bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms. Kak\u00e1, a former FIFA World Player of the Year, retired in 2017. He was part of Brazil\u2019s team that won the FIFA World Cup in 2002.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo<\/p>\n<p>In March of this year, Ronaldo Lu\u00eds Naz\u00e1rio de Lima, known as Ronaldo, <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2026\/03\/30\/ronaldo-luis-nazario-de-lima-buys-condo-in-miamis-bay-harbor\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid $7.8 million<\/a> for a penthouse at Onda in Bay Harbor Islands. The five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom unit spans just over 5,000 square feet. The developer, a joint venture between Ugo Colombo\u2019s CMC Group and Valerio Morabito\u2019s Morabito Properties, completed the eight-story, 41-unit condominium in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo, a retired striker who played for his native country of Brazil, is considered one of the greatest players of all time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Paul Pogba<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, a midfielder who played for Manchester United and France (now with the French Ligue 1 club Monaco), <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2020\/05\/15\/manchester-uniteds-paul-pogba-joins-beckham-at-zaha-hadid-condo-tower\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid $6 million<\/a> for a unit at the Zaha Hadid-designed One Thousand Museum condo tower in downtown Miami. That deal closed the same year that David and Victoria Beckham paid $19.8 million for a full-floor unit in the same building, amid rumors that Pogba would join Inter Miami. He hasn\u2019t so far.<\/p>\n<p>Sergio Busquets<\/p>\n<p>Sergio Busquets, one of the best defensive midfielders in the game, <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2023\/08\/21\/sergio-busquets-buys-waterfront-home-in-south-florida\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid about $8.7 million<\/a> for the seven-bedroom, six-and-a-half bathroom house on Seneca Road in the Sea Ranch Lakes community in 2023. He and his wife bought the home the year he joined Inter Miami, and they sold it earlier this year for $9 million, shortly after he retired. The Broward County home fronts Lake Seneca in a gated community.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Luis Su\u00e1rez<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, Inter Miami\u2019s Luis Su\u00e1rez paid $11.5 million for a waterfront house in Bay Colony, the same Broward neighborhood as Messi. Su\u00e1rez, considered one of the greatest strikers of his generation, also played with <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/tag\/lionel-messi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Messi<\/a> at FC Barcelona from 2014 to 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Suarez\u2019s house on Compass Point spans nearly 7,100 square feet with eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms on a 0.6-acre lot with 425 feet of waterfront, according to a previous listing.<\/p>\n<p>David Beckham\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, the Beckhams <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2024\/10\/15\/david-victoria-beckham-buy-waterfront-miami-beach-mansion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid $72.3 million<\/a> for a waterfront spec mansion in Miami Beach, setting a record for the city\u2019s North Bay Road. David, a retired champion and co-owner of Inter Miami, and Victoria closed on the 14,270-square-foot estate, which was asking $80 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Luxury homebuilder Bart Reines constructed the new home, which has nine bathrooms, four half-bathrooms, a gym, spa, home theater, a pool and an outdoor kitchen and lounge. The 0.6-acre property includes 124 feet of water frontage. Developer Niklas de la Motte sold the home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Beckhams sold their condo at One Thousand Museum in February <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2026\/02\/06\/david-victoria-beckham-sell-miami-penthouse-for-25-million\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">for $24.6 million<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What we\u2019re thinking about: Who did I miss? Send me a note at <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2026\/07\/19\/where-soccer-players-have-bought-south-florida-homes\/mailto:kk@therealdeal.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">kk@therealdeal.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>CLOSING TIME<\/p>\n<p>Residential: The top home sale was on Star Island, where <a href=\"https:\/\/therealdeal.com\/miami\/2026\/07\/14\/sean-diddy-combs-sells-star-island-miami-beach-mansion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs<\/a>, sold one of his Star Island mansions for $55 million. JFStar LLC, led by John A. Franklin of Virginia Beach, bought the 8,000-square-foot home at 1 Star Island Drive. It has six bedrooms, eight and a half bathrooms and sits on a bayfront 1.3-acre lot with 240 feet of water frontage, a pool and spa, and a dock. Combs is serving his four-year sentence on charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.<\/p>\n<p>Commercial: An affiliate of Chicago-based real estate investment firm Walton Street Capital sold the Alamar Senior Living facility at 8785 Lake Worth Road for $30.7 million. An entity linked to Health Wave Partners, also based in Chicago, sold the Wellington property.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Research by Mary Diduch\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NEW TO THE MARKET\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Miami\u2019s \u201cDiet Doctor\u201d Edmundo Tamayo listed a waterfront lot on the Venetian Islands <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realtor.com\/realestateandhomes-detail\/1224-S-Venetian-Way_Miami-Beach_FL_33139_M98054-06288\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">for $45 million<\/a> with Julian Johnston of the Corcoran Group. The Marco Island property at 1224 South Venetian Way is listed as a spec home that will span 9,400 square feet with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, one half-bath, terraces, a pool, spa and lounge. Property records show an LLC managed by Tamayo paid $8 million for the lot in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"852\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Marco-Island-property.jpg\" alt=\"The Marco Island property\" class=\"wp-image-1042372\"  \/>The Marco Island property<\/p>\n<p>A thing we\u2019ve learned<\/p>\n<p>West Palm Beach and Miami have the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/community\/miami-dade\/article316496924.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">widest and second-widest gaps<\/a> in the U.S. between luxury and non-luxury home and condo prices, according to Redfin. The report confirms what has been playing out in the market, as multimillionaires and billionaires drive record sales at the high end, and the working-class struggle with high rents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in Florida<\/p>\n<p>A federal judge sided with ACLU lawyers by refusing to pause a pending civil rights lawsuit over the controversial Everglades immigration detention center Alligator Alcatraz. The center was closed and all tents removed this month, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/immigration\/article316540592.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami Herald<\/a> reported last week. The judge ordered state and federal officials to present concrete evidence of the site\u2019s permanent closure rather than relying solely on official announcements to resolve the case.<\/p>\n<p>Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass donated $7.5 million to the political action committee supporting Byron Donalds\u2019 campaign for Florida governor. Yass\u2019 wife is Erika Donalds, a charter school advocate and CEO of charter management companies, and together the couple is pushing a complete transformation of the state\u2019s education system, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miaminewtimes.com\/news\/the-billionaire-trying-to-reinvent-florida-schools-has-a-7-5-million-bet-on-byron-donalds-40565603\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Miami New Times<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consider this a World Cup edition of the South Florida Dirt.\u00a0 From Coral Gables to Hallandale Beach, South&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,4522,561,82],"class_list":["post-812711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-residential","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}