2025 Inter Miami CF season

The 2025 season is the sixth season for Inter Miami CF, a professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team plays in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top flight of club soccer in the United States, as a member of the Eastern Conference. The year also marks the 22nd season of first-division club soccer in South Florida. In addition to playing in the MLS regular season, Inter Miami CF are competing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the second time, and the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time.
The club are the defending Supporters' Shield champions, having set a record for most points in MLS history during the 2024 regular season. They qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup in the allocated slot for the host country and will play in the expanded tournament's opening match on June 15, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Inter Miami CF were eliminated from the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs in the first round by ninth-seeded Atlanta United FC. The 2025 season will be the final year for the club at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, which will be replaced by Miami Freedom Park in 2026.
Argentinian manager Gerardo "Tata" Martino resigned at the end of the 2024 season after two years at the club and was replaced on November 26 by Javier Mascherano, the former manager of the Argentina under-20 team. Sporting director Chris Henderson left Miami in December to join Atlanta United FC. The team's captain, Argentinian midfielder Lionel Messi, has a contract through the end of the 2025 season. The team had several key players who had contracts that were set to expire during the 2024–25 offseason, including striker Luis Suárez and defender Jordi Alba, who had a club option for 2025. Suárez signed a one-year extension of his contract on November 27 and was followed by the exercising of a contract option for Alba through the 2025 season.
The preseason for Inter Miami CF began on January 10 with players reporting to a training camp that expended to full sessions three days later. The team played their first friendly match ten days later against Club América of Liga MX at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas area. The teams drew 2–2 in regulation time and Inter Miami CF won 3–2 in the penalty shootout, which culminated in a winning kick by 17-year-old homegrown player Santiago Morales. Inter Miami CF then played in three overseas friendlies organized by marketing agency Never Say Never (co-founded by Andrés Iniesta) before returning to the United States in February. Inter Miami CF and Orlando City SC played a preseason friendly match on February 14 at Raymond James Stadium; it was the first match at the stadium with MLS teams since the Tampa Bay Mutiny folded in 2001.
Miami began their season with the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. The first leg was hosted by Sporting Kansas City and originally scheduled for February 18, but was moved a day later due to a winter storm warning. The match kicked off on February 19 with a temperature of 5 °F (−15 °C); by the end of the match, the temperature was below 0 °F (−18 °C). Lionel Messi scored the lone goal of the match in the 56th minute as both teams had difficulty playing in the cold conditions. The match's referee, Marco Ortíz of Mexico, was later suspended by CONCACAF for requesting an autograph from Messi for a family member.
The team returned to Florida three days later to open the MLS regular season against New York City FC; the scheduled kickoff time was delayed by five hours to accommodate the earlier change in the CONCACAF Champions Cup fixture. Messi had two assists in the match, which finished in a 2–2 draw after a late tying goal for Miami in the tenth minute of stoppage time by Telasco Segovia. Miami had played for most of the match with 10 players after defender Tomás Avilés was sent off for a tackle in the 23rd minute. Miami advanced to the round of 16 in the Champions Cup with a 3–1 win at home against Sporting Kansas City in the second leg of their series, which finished with a 4–1 aggregate score. All three goals for the home team were scored in the first half, including two in stoppage time. Lionel Messi did not travel for Miami's away league match against the Houston Dynamo, who allowed fans in attendance to claim a complimentary ticket for a future match. Miami won 4–1 with a goal and three assists from Luis Suárez.
The full preseason schedule with matches in Central and South America was announced on January 10, 2025.
The MLS regular season schedule was released on December 19, 2024. Inter Miami CF will play 34 matches—17 at home and 17 away—primarily against the 14 other teams in the Eastern Conference; the team will also play six opponents from the Western Conference. The regular season will include a break for the FIFA Club World Cup in June and no break for the 2025 Leagues Cup in August.
Inter Miami CF qualified for the tournament as the 2024 MLS Supporters' Shield winners. They were placed into Pot 1 as one of the top eight clubs in the CONCACAF Club Rankings for the round one draw.
Inter Miami CF qualified for the tournament as the host country representative team by winning the 2024 MLS Supporters' Shield. They will open the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on June 14, 2025.
The draw for the group stage was held on December 5, 2024. Inter Miami CF was in pot 4 but automatically assigned to Group A for scheduling purposes.
Inter Miami CF qualified for the 2025 Leagues Cup as one of the top nine teams in the Eastern Conference standings during the 2024 season. They will not play in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup and will instead be represented by Inter Miami CF II, their reserve team from MLS Next Pro.
For the 2025 season, Inter Miami CF are permitted a maximum of 30 signed players on the first team, of which 10 roster positions were designated for supplemental and reserve players. Additional homegrown players are eligible to be signed to off-roster slots and are able to appear in MLS matches through short-term agreements. The senior players in the first 20 roster positions count towards a base salary cap of $5.95 million with exceptions for certain categories, including up to three Designated Players who counted for a set amount in the cap. The total salary cap of $11.11 million includes the use of general allocation money and other targeted spending mechanisms. MLS clubs are allowed to sign three senior Designated Players and three under-22 Designated Players to salaries that exceed the salary cap with a maximum budget charge of $743,750. As of March 3, 2025, Inter Miami CF has $3.15 million in available general allocation money for the 2025 season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Squad includes all players who had first team contracts or appearances during the 2024 season across all competitions. Ages listed for each player is calculated from February 22, 2025, the first matchday of the MLS regular season.
For transfers in, dates listed are when Inter Miami CF officially signed the player to the roster. Transactions where only the rights to the players are acquired are not listed. For transfers out, dates listed are when Inter Miami CF officially removed the players from its roster, not when they signed with another club. If a player later signed with another club, his new club will be noted, but the date listed here remains the one when he was officially removed from the Inter Miami CF roster.
Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract are listed as transfers in.
On December 20, 2024, Inter Miami CF traded its first-round pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft to Los Angeles FC in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick and $50,000 in general allocation money.
Key MLS = Major League Soccer, PO = MLS Cup playoffs, CCC = CONCACAF Champions Cup, CWC = FIFA Club World Cup, LC = Leagues Cup A = Appearances, S = Starts, G = Goals