A new rugby union squad will train at the same facility as Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, the two organizations revealed on Friday.
The Miami Sharks, who will begin competing in Major League Rugby the following year, will train and play home matches at a facility that is a part of the same Fort Lauderdale property as the team’s DRV PNK Stadium.
“The Miami Sharks will join the Inter Miami CF first team, second team and academy teams at the facilities commencing in the first quarter of 2024,” the club said in a statement.
The Sharks, like Inter Miami, will have a significant Argentinian presence with to their first significant acquisition, scrum-half Tomas Cubelli, 33.
Cubelli, who played 89 times for Argentina, is a member of the squad competing in the Rugby World Cup right now in France.
“I am very excited to join the Miami Sharks in this exhilarating journey and to move to Miami, the capital of the world of professional sports,” said Cubelli.
Argentine Jose Pellicena, a former assistant coach of his nation’s national team, will lead the Sharks.
Inter Miami midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi, whose father Pablo played rugby for Argentina in the 1990s, provides a closer link to the squad.
“I knew this project was in the works and I am excited for them to get here and get started,” Cremaschi, who made his debut for the United States on Tuesday, told reporters after training on Friday.
“It will be great that this area will have a rugby team so the sport can grow here and in this country,” he added.
Despite moving to a new stadium in Miami itself in 2025, Inter Miami plans to keep using the Fort Lauderdale facility for training.
Major League Rugby was established in 2017 and comprises 12 teams at the moment.
