The Colorado Rapids said Thursday that they are moving a game in April against soccer-great Lionel Messi and his team, Inter Miami CF, to Empower Field at Mile High. There’s no guarantee, however, that Messi will play.

The inaugural edition of the Messi Cup, a tournament launched by Lionel Messi earlier this year for U16 teams, was won by Argentine giants River Plate, who defeated Atlético Madrid in Sunday’s final.

The 2026 Word Cup is approaching next summer and most of the biggest soccer stars will arrive in the United States, Canada and Mexico to represent their national teams at the best tournament in the world that takes place every four years.

Fresh off Inter Miami's MLS Cup win, Lionel Messi was back to work for a series of events branded as Lionel Messi's G.O.A.T. India Tour 2025.

When Argentina lifted the World Cup trophy in December 2022, the moment belonged to an entire country as much as it did to the players on the pitch.

That performance proved decisive in Argentina securing their third World Cup title. The 2022 tournament marked Messi’s fifth World Cup appearance, after quarterfinal exits in 2006 and 2010, a runner-up finish in 2014, and a round of 16 elimination in 2018.

A photo shared on social media showed Florida State junior defender Mimi Van Zanten sound asleep next to the 2025 NCAA Championship Trophy, the program's third in five years. Van Zanten donned a national championship hat in the photo, in addition to a piece of the soccer goal she cut down after the win.