For years, the prospect of life without football had manifested its own fears and anxieties within the great Argentinian No. 10. A few years earlier, ahead of the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica, Messi said in an interview with ESPN Argentina that he was \u201ca bit scared of it all ending\u201d. But with the 2026 World Cup now over, the finish line felt closer than ever. His father\u2019s passing<\/a> undoubtedly only higlighted how life and time continues unchecked, even if you are not ready for it.<\/p>\n With those realities swirling in his head, Messi found solace where he always had: on the football pitch. Only this time, as he prepared to enter Inter Miami\u2019s Leagues Cup game against Le\u00f3n as a substitute, he looked out at the field and saw his own name lit up on the concourse in front of him: Leo Messi Stand.<\/p>\n It was a sign of how much more he still had awaiting him when he does step away.<\/p>\n The field he would jog onto in Miami was one he owned \u2014 not as he had controlled so many pitches before with his extraterrestrial abilities, but as part-owner of Inter Miami. The key clause of the contract with the Major League Soccer team that lured him stateside in 2023 gave Messi a minority percentage in the club<\/a> when he retired. Around 10 percent was linked in his first contract, and an undisclosed further amount baked into the extension he signed in 2025.<\/p>\n A few weeks after that Leagues Cup return, and two days after scoring four goals in an Inter Miami win, Messi announced he was retiring from Argentina\u2019s national team<\/a>. It meant that his final days on the field will almost certainly come in Miami. How long he lasts remains to be seen. He is contracted through the end of the 2027-28 season, but really, the exact date matters less.<\/p>\n \n Lionel Messi has been an Inter Miami player since 2023 (Chandan Khanna \/ AFP \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n The inevitability of the end \u2014 the prospect of football without Messi \u2014 felt omnipresent since he first arrived in the United States. Messi pondered how he might fill the hole that the sport filled for as long as he could remember in his life.<\/p>\n \u201cI know these are my last years, and I know that when I don\u2019t have this, I\u2019m going to miss it dearly,\u201d Messi said in the Apple TV documentary Messi Meets America. \u201cBecause no matter how many things I find to do, nothing is going to be like this, which I did all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Inter Miami hoped he found the answer over his last few years in South Florida\u00a0\u2014 for as long as he liked while wearing the No. 10 jersey, but for years after that, too.<\/p>\n It\u2019s what the ownership clause was about. Many thought of it as a financial incentive for Messi. And it was. Miami was valued at around $650 million when Messi signed. Its valuation has since shot up north of $1.3 billion. As long as Messi plays, the valuation of Inter Miami will continue to go up, and that means the value of Messi\u2019s stake goes up, too.<\/p>\n But there is an enormous benefit for MLS and Inter Miami, too.<\/p>\n It is an analogous construct as David Beckham\u2019s expansion team clause from when he signed with the LA Galaxy back in 2007. That deal, which gave Beckham rights to buy an MLS expansion team for $25 million \u2014 well below the fees that were being paid by the time he triggered it \u2014 was seen as one of the best contracts in sports history because of the enormous value the former England winger got out of it. But it was also a hugely successful play for MLS. Thirteen years after he stopped playing, Beckham, one of the biggest global brands in sport, is still linked to and remains a flag-bearer for MLS.<\/p>\n \n Lionel Messi will join David Beckham among Inter Miami\u2019s ownership group following the conclusion of his playing days (Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n The goal of Miami\u2019s ownership group was always to turn Inter Miami into Leo Messi\u2019s Inter Miami. It is why, when he signed his extension, they shot the accompanying announcement video inside the still-under-construction stadium. A venue that Messi helped build<\/a>, and one that signified he was a part of the very bones of the organization, linked for as long as they could manage. That day, the entire ownership group brought family members down to the stadium and toured it together as partners.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think of Lionel Messi,\u00ad I\u2019m thinking 10 or 15 years from now,\u00ad the greatest that ever played, no doubt, what\u2019s the first thing that comes to your mind?\u201d Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas asked during an interview for my book, The Messi Effect<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of two images: Argentina lifting the World Cup and Bar\u00e7a. How do I get Inter Miami and the pink into that mix?<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s going to be defined by the amount of these that we lift.\u201d<\/p>\n Mas, sitting at his desk in Coral Gables, Fla., raised his arms skyward, lifting an imaginary trophy over his head.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it\u2019s over, [the hope] is that it\u2019s going to be discussed as not the end of his career, but part of his career,\u201d Mas continued. \u201cMy goal is that the Messi legacy, the Messi image, is tied to Inter Miami, and that Inter Miami is tied to Messi. . . . He\u2019s going to be an integral part of everything that we\u2019re building.\u201d<\/p>\n What that will look like in practice remains up in the air, but Inter Miami is betting that people will want to play for Messi\u2019s Miami, even if it does not mean getting to step on the field with him.<\/p>\n That is not outlandish. Messi sent a video message to Beckham when Miami was officially announced as an MLS expansion club saying that maybe he would see him down the line. And he did. There will be a draw to Messi recruiting players to Miami \u2014 if he chooses to take on that role.<\/p>\n \u201cI see Messi having a significant impact on the sporting side,\u201d Mas said. \u201cI think having him as part of this project will continue to keep Inter Miami at the forefront of people\u2019s minds. . . . If you look at what we\u2019re building economically and everything we\u2019re doing commercially, we\u2019re a big team. If we\u2019re allowed to take the shackles off, we\u2019ll be bigger. And that\u2019ll come.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Lionel Messi celebrates one of his four goals against CF Montreal (Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292138286-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2250417032-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292637871-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n