Messi, Inter Miami in Copa Libertadores? Even for the ambitious MLS club, it’s a dream too big

Inter Miami’s club motto is an aspirational call to action that the club’s co-founder, Jorge Mas, often points to as the foundation of the MLS side’s ambition. “Freedom to dream” is plastered throughout Inter Miami’s training facility in Fort Lauderdale. It’s on the club’s jerseys and Mas himself repeats it publicly.

After Inter Miami won the MLS Cup final in December, Mas told Apple TV that the team’s success was “based on dreaming.” The club’s first MLS title was a dream come true for the Cuban-American billionaire. But Mas has another dream that will be significantly more difficult to accomplish.

Last week when Inter Miami kicked off 2026 MLS preseason, Mas told reporters that seeing the club and Lionel Messi compete in South America’s Copa Libertadores is still on the table. How viable that is, however, is certainly up for debate. There are many hurdles that a North American club must bypass in order to gain access to CONMEBOL’s premier club competition.

Mas knows this, but that hasn’t stopped him from, well, dreaming about that possibility. “It’s a dream,” Mas said when asked about how serious he is about pushing MLS into the Copa Libertadores.

“Dreams come true, right?” he continued. “I have had conversations with CONMEBOL and with (president) Alejandro (Domínguez) about looking into participation in the Copa Libertadores. There are precedents because Mexican clubs have played in the Libertadores before.”

Liga MX teams not only participated in the Copa Libertadores, they competed at a high level for nearly a decade. From 1998 to 2016, Mexican clubs were part of the Copa Libertadores field, which pitted Liga MX sides against some of South America’s biggest and most successful clubs. Cruz Azul, Chivas de Guadalajara and Tigres all reached the Libertadores final.

Cruz Azul lost to the dynasty that was the 2001 version of Boca Juniors. Chivas succumbed to Brazil’s Internacional in 2010 and Tigres finished runner up to Marcelo Gallardo’s 2015 River Plate. Yet in hindsight, the ways in which Mexican clubs earned the right to play the Libertadores makes their return to the modern-day tournament nearly impossible to envision.

To summarize, in 1998 the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) successfully lobbied CONMEBOL to allow two Liga MX teams to participate. First, Liga MX teams were matched against two Venezuelan sides, traditionally the weakest Libertadores participants, in a pre-Libertadores playoff. That process later became the InterLiga tournament, which was an eight-team Liga MX qualifying competition that was staged in the U.S. The top two teams qualified for the Copa Libertadores. Both methods were time consuming and would eventually clash with domestic league calendars.

Mas said last week that the MLS Cup winner and Liga MX champion were “perhaps deserving of a slot” in the Copa Libertadores. That’s quite the fast track considering the aforementioned qualifying process. Furthermore, and according to Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, FIFA shut the door on the prospect of the Copa Libertadores including North American teams.

In December of 2023, Montagliani told Spanish-language outlet TUDN that FIFA had rejected a petition from FMF that sought to reintroduce Liga MX’s Copa Libertadores participation.

“The confederations are working together to create another competition, but regarding the Libertadores, we have a request from Mexico to play in it,” Montagliani said. “We spoke with FIFA, and we sent a document back to the FMF that was denied; it was not authorized. Concacaf didn’t authorize either because we have our own official competition. It wasn’t authorized because we have ours, which is the path to the Club World Cup.”

That official competition is now the Concacaf Champions Cup. And as Montagliani noted, the tournament provides the winners with a direct berth to the now expanded 32-team Club World Cup. On Thursday, a Concacaf source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Athletic that the confederation’s position remains unchanged. CONMEBOL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mas, though, does have a joker in his deck. Messi is Inter Miami’s captain and remains a massive draw for both live audiences and corporate sponsors. Messi has never played in the Copa Libertadores. At 38, his opportunities to do so are limited. And while Messi signed a contract extension in October that should see him in pink through the 2028 MLS season, that’s still a short window in which to introduce such a seismic change. In the meantime, Inter Miami has reloaded its squad with an aim to win the Champions Cup, something that must surely excite Concacaf.

That is a more realistic objective than advocating for an invitation to the Copa Libertadores. Mexican clubs have long dominated Concacaf tournaments, so it was understandable that they would want to test themselves against stronger competition. Inter Miami, however, has been soundly defeated in its two appearances in the Champions Cup.

In 2024, Inter Miami reached the quarterfinal round but was eliminated by Monterrey 5-2 on aggregate after two legs. A berth in the 2025 semifinals ended with an embarrassing 5-1 aggregate loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Mas’ desire to play an official competition in South America is a cart-before-the-horse situation. Inter Miami is a global success as a brand, and it exceeded expectations at last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup. A well-earned win over Porto in Atlanta and a draw against Brazilian giant Palmeiras in Miami were noteworthy. Tournament football can create moments of magic. Inter Miami, though, has yet to prove itself beyond the continental U.S.

The Copa Libertadores would be a bridge too far.

“Personally, I would love to play in the Libertadores,” Mas said. “I’ve said it before. I say it publicly, I say it within (MLS). I know these are matters between Concacaf and CONMEBOL, but I believe that if we can somehow continue to grow football hemispherically through the participation of North American and Mexican clubs, the competition would be better for it.”

A Brazilian club has won eight of the last 10 Copa Libertadores finals and seven consecutive titles. An all-Brazilian final has become the norm. Financially-restricted MLS teams would enter the tournament at a massive disadvantage. Even the most ambitious MLS club does not have the spending power of Brazil’s richest teams, or the overall talent level of South America’s most competitive clubs.

Instead, Inter Miami has scheduled preseason January friendlies against Peru’s Alianza Lima, Colombia’s Atlético Nacional and Ecuador’s Barcelona SC. All three clubs are prominent South American brands and traditional Copa Libertadores participants. Nacional won the tournament in 2016. These exhibition matches will be an opportunity to leverage Messi’s popularity in South America and get a taste of CONMEBOL competition.

One can appreciate Mas’ freedom to dream and his insistence that MLS clubs can play a bigger part in international club football. But not all dreams come true. Sometimes one’s reality is rooted in the fine print.