Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi have founded a new soccer club together that will compete in Uruguay, the Inter Miami duo announced on social media Tuesday.
Suárez said he been working on the venture since 2018, and welcomed Messi into the fold in a video posted across the new club’s social media platforms. Suárez said the club has 80 working professionals and 3,000 members to ‘provide opportunities and tools for teenagers and children to help them grow.’
‘We hope that our club can start competing within the Uruguayan Football Association system. This is a very exciting goal for us, and it represents a huge step forward for me and my family,’ Suárez said. ‘We firmly believe in this project. We aim not only to provide sports facilities but also to serve teenagers from a humanistic perspective, giving them opportunities that we didn’t have when we were young. We will work hard with a calm mindset to turn this long, dreamed of project into a reality and participate in the competitive world.’
Messi, the Argentine World Cup champion, also shared a message in the club’s social media announcement.
‘First of all, I’d like to thank Luis for giving me this opportunity to join this project,’ Messi said. ‘You’ve been working hard on this project for many years, and it has grown very significantly. It’s a great honor and joy for me to be a part of it with you now. Thank you for choosing me. I hope to do my best to contribute to the continued development of this project, and most importantly, to work side by side with you. Thank you very much.’
Together, Messi and Suárez won three Champions League titles among several others while shining together at FC Barcelona from 2014-2020.
Messi, 37, joined Inter Miami in July 2023, followed by Suárez, 38, in 2024. Both are under contract with the MLS club through the 2025 season. It’s possible both could agree to contract extensions with Inter Miami later this year.
Messi and Suárez will compete with Inter Miami during this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup hosted in the United States next month.