Miami has always been a sports city, but never a fútbol city. That’s about to change.
On a sunny afternoon in the front yard of his house in Miami, 43-year-old Mario Costa was playing soccer with his 10-year-old son, Matías. Dressed in black track pants and an Inter Miami jersey, he let the ball bounce twice on the concrete before striking it hard, sending it close to a neighbor’s car.
“Vamos, vamos chase that ball! Run, run – don’t let it roll into the puddle,” Costa yelled in Spanish, half-laughing and half-coaching his son. “If it gets wet, it’s game over.”
Sports fans in the Magic City have a connection to teams such as the Miami Dolphins, even though that squad hasn’t reached the Super Bowl in over 40 years. The Miami Marlins are still remembered for their 2003 World Series championship, and the Miami Heat last celebrated titles when the Big Three made history winning back-to-back in 2012 and 2013.
With fútbol, however, it’s a different story. Teams have come and gone. Stadiums were borrowed, not built. Miami has always been a sports city, but never a Fútbol city. Now, that’s about to change.
As Hispanic and Latino families have made Miami their home, the sport they grew up with is becoming part of the area’s identity. Now, the city is building a 25,000-seat stadium made specifically for fútbol. “My son will grow up with something I never had – a stadium that feels like home,” Costa, who’s originally from Colombia, said.
Construction of the Future Inter Miami CF Stadium, Miami Freedom Park. Courtesy of Inter Miami CF
At 1400 NW 37th Ave., where the Melreese Country Club once stood, a new chapter is beginning right next to Miami International Airport. But this didn’t happen overnight.
Back in the late 1970s, South Florida’s first soccer professional team, The Fort Lauderdale Strikers, showed promise but couldn’t stay afloat. Attendance fell, revenue dried up. By the mid-80s, the club folded. The Miami Fusion followed in 1998. They were talented and even won the Supporters Shield, an award given to the league’s best regular-season record. But they struggled to draw local Miami fans, and ultimately shut down in 2001.
“We had the number one record [but] we couldn’t get people into the stands,” former Miami Fusion owner Ken Horowitz told the Human United Podcast. “It had more publicity, yet people did not come.”
The problem wasn’t passion, what it lacked was infrastructure, investment, and a sense of permanence.
Daniel Pérez, whose family is from Cuba, grew up watching old VHS tapes of futbol legend Diego Maradona with his late father. Those moments shaped his love for the game.
“For us, fútbol was never just a sport, it was time together, stories and orgullo,” said the 31-year-old fútbol fan, who lives in Little Havana.
He became a die-hard Inter Miami fan because of Leo Messi. He watched his games and went to the stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Yet watching the games in Fort Lauderdale felt “temporary, incomplete,” he said. “That’s not Miami. We need a stadium in the heart of the city.”
The feeling of disconnection is what helped fuel a vision that started to take shape when businessman Jorge Mas and the Soccer Legend David Beckham, turned an idea of bringing a team that locally represents the fans of Miami into the future park that will transform Miami’s Futbol culture.
No more borrowing NFL stadiums and no more traveling to Fort-lauderdale.
When Beckham was awarded an MLS franchise in 2018, the excitement was undeniable. But so was the skepticism. The creation of Inter Miami CF aimed to look for success where others failed.
David Beckham’s ownership group first tried to build a stadium at Museum Park in 2014, but the plan collapsed due to political resistance led by former Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, citing concerns over losing public waterfront and green space. They then targeted Overtown in 2016, but legal and zoning issues forced Inter Miami CF to play in Fort Lauderdale approximately an hour away from its fanbase. However, the breakthrough came in 2022, when the group reached an agreement with the city of Miami to redevelop Melreese into the biggest sports innovation in decades: Miami Freedom Park.
“MLS is finally giving the Miami fans a chance to embrace the team as theirs in a really tangible way,” said Joe Shaw Host of United Humans FC Podcast.
Melreese Country Golf Club in 2019. Via: Wikimedia Commons.
The 131-acre park will be bigger than Vatican City. Next to it, a 600,000-square-foot Soccer Village, about the size of the Empire State Building laid on its side, with restaurants, shops, and a tech hub. The project also includes 400,000 square feet of office space, equal to two Walmart Supercenters, and a 750 room hotel with a conference center, like a big Vegas resort.
The entire project is privately funded, with no cost to taxpayers. Under a 99-year lease agreement with the City of Miami, it aims to give the city a true global fútbol presence and build a club that can stand alongside the world’s elite.
Juan Rivas, from Honduras, grew up juggling a soccer ball in the narrow hallways of his house in Juticalpa because his parents couldn’t afford club fees. Five years ago, he moved out to search for a better life for his family. When he heard Inter Miami CF signed his idol Leo Messi, he didn’t hesitate. He took his 13-year-old son, Harold, and drove two hours to the former DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. They stood in line under the heat, ticket prices inflated, but none of it mattered when Messi took the field.
Now, with Miami Freedom Park near his house in Hialeah, he feels the sport is finally finding a home for families like his.
“Fútbol is one of the few things we carried with us,” said the 38-year-old Futbol fan. “Now Miami won’t just have Messi, it will have a place that feels ours.”
Aerial View of the 131-acre Miami Freedom Park. 58-acre new public Jorge Mas Canosa Park, four Baseball fields, and the Grapeland Water Park (left), eight soccer youth fields and Soccer Village (middle), MLS Inter Miami CF Stadium (right). Courtesy of Inter Miami CF.
Critics called it a land grab, arguing that the public land was given to billionaires who didn’t care about the kids who played there, the golfers, or the community members who used the space for charity events. Meanwhile, supporters saw it as an investment in Miami’s local economy, with the potential to create 15,000 jobs and bring major events to the city.
“You can’t build a Futbol culture without a home,” said 42-year-old longtime Futbol fan Valentina Soto. “To watch Messi play is one thing, but to have a place that belongs to us, that’s how you build tradition.”
No team has achieved long-term stability in Miami. However, with the completion of the Miami Freedom Park project in 2026 and Messi putting Inter Miami CF on the global map, this could be the city’s biggest chance to become a true fútbol powerhouse.
“I can see this new stadium being utilized for the 2031 Women’s World Cup, US Men’s National Soccer Team and International matches,” Shaw said.
Fútbol culture needs roots, and this is where they could finally grow. What once felt out of reach is finally becoming real for fans across the city.
“For years, we chased the game around the city, it finally feels like the game is coming to us,” said Rivas.
