Inter Miami bet that Lionel Messi would transform its flamingo logo into a globally recognised brand. But the backlash over the Argentine World Cup winner’s failure to play in a Hong Kong friendly match has shown the perils of pinning commercial dreams largely on one superstar.
The Florida football club, which counts former England captain David Beckham as a co-owner, beat Saudi Arabia to lure Messi to the US last July, a boost to a country that will co-host the Fifa World Cup in 2026.
Messi’s arrival was heralded as a seminal moment in the US’s conversion to the world’s favourite sport, following the arrival of Brazilian icon Pelé, who played in the US in the mid-1970s, the hosting of the 1994 World Cup, and Beckham’s own stint as a player in 2007.