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Lionel Messi recently announced that he plans to join Inter Miami, a team in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Messi played his final game for PSG last week. He wanted to return to Barcelona, but financial rules prevented that. He has also turned down big offers from the Saudi Pro League.
“I made the decision that I’m going to go to Miami,” Messi said in an interview. He said that if he couldn’t go to Barcelona, we wanted to leave Europe, focus on his family, and be out of the spotlight.
Messi, who helped Argentina to win the World Cup in 2022 and has received seven Ballon d’Or awards, won the Ligue 1 title and the French Super Cup while with PSG.
“After winning the World Cup and not being able to go to Barca, it was time to go to the US league and enjoy a different kind of football,” Messi said.
Messi wanted to join a club where he could eventually have ownership after he retires, and that seems possible in MLS. He will also benefit financially from his sponsorship deal with Adidas and revenue share from Apple TV which shows MLS games.
Messi’s move to MLS is expected to attract more viewers to Apple TV, as he is the most famous soccer player in the world.
Inter Miami is co-owned by former soccer player David Beckham, who also played in MLS. The team is currently struggling and fired their coach, Phil Neville, last week.
Vocabulary
- Announce – share information openly; to tell the public; to make a statement; to report
- Join – To become a part of or be included in a group or organization
- Final – end; last; ultimate; no more
- Financial – related to finance, money or banking
- Prevent – to stop; to keep from happening; to put an end to
- Turn down – To reject or say “no” to something
- Offer – an amount of money that someone is ready to pay for something; bid
- Make a decision – To choose or make up your mind about something; decide
- Interview – a conversation or meeting where someone is asked questions to learn about them, often for jobs or news
- Spotlight – to get or receive a lot of attention; to be in focus; a popular topic
- Award 🏆; A recognition or prize given to someone for their achievements or contributions
- Club – a soccer team
- Eventually – After a while or over time; later on
- Ownership – being an owner; the fact that you own something
- Retire – To end your career; to leave your job at an old age;
- Benefit – to get an advantage; to gain something positive; to have a good effect
- Sponsorship – the agreement when a company/person pays support money and can advertise or show their name (Coca-cola sponsors the Olympics)
- Deal – agreement; business contract; arrangement
- Revenue share – The division or distribution of income or profits between two or more parties; an agreement to share earnings or profits with someone
- Expect – to think something will happen; forecast; predict; suppose
- Attract – to cause something to come toward something else; to pull or draw someone or something toward them
- Former – previous; past; ex-; before; in the past
- Struggle – to fight; to try very hard to do a difficult thing; strain
- Fire – to remove someone from their job; dismiss a worker from a job; to let go; to lay off; dismiss
- Coach – manager; the boss of a team
Quiz
Discussion Questions
- What do you think about Lionel Messi’s decision to join Inter Miami? Do you think it’s a good move for his career?
- How do you think Messi’s presence in MLS will impact the league and its popularity?
- With Messi’s move to MLS, do you think more high-profile soccer players will consider playing in the United States?
- Do you believe owning a club after retirement is a good career move for professional soccer players? Why or why not?
- Who’s better, Ronaldo or Messi?
- English teachers looking for teaching ideas, check out my post on using easy news articles for lessons.
- English learners looking for study ideas, check out my post on using news stories for English practice.
