Miami tops MLS

NEW YORK (Wednesday, October 2, 2024) – For the first time in club history, Inter Miami CF have won the Supporters’ Shield, an award given to the MLS team with the best overall regular season record by the supporters. Miami clinched the trophy tonight by defeating the Columbus Crew, 3-2, thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi and a goal from Luis Suárez. Messi scored in the 45th minute with a slight touch past the goalkeeper before adding his second in first-half stoppage time with a sensational free kick. After Columbus scored quickly after halftime, Suárez restored the two-goal advantage in the 48th minute as Miami held on to the 3-2 win thanks to a penalty kick save by Drake Callender with six minutes remaining.

With the accolade, the Herons have clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference and home-field advantage throughout the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs. As the Supporters’ Shield winners, Inter Miami will compete in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, marking the second-straight season they will participate in the competition.

Miami will host a playoff game for the first time in club history when they face the winner of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Wild Card match between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in the Round One Best-of-3 Series. Miami will host the first game of the series and the third, if necessary, at Chase Stadium, and their opponent will host the second game of the series The full Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs schedule will be announced at a later date.

Debuting in MLS in 2020, Inter Miami is now the 17th different club in the league’s 29 seasons to earn the Supporters’ Shield, and only the sixth active club to win it within their first five seasons in MLS. Since expanding the regular season to 34 games in 2011, Miami is only the third team to win the Supporters’ Shield after missing the playoffs in the previous season, joining LAFC in 2022 and the San Jose Earthquakes in 2012.

In his second year at the helm, head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino has led Inter Miami to a 20-4-8 record with a plus-25 goal differential. The Supporters’ Shield marks Martino’s ninth trophy as a manager in club soccer and fourth as an MLS head coach. After today’s matches, Martino holds a .655 winning percentage (60-25-28 record) in the regular season, which is the highest winning percentage by a coach in MLS history (minimum 20 games coached).

Over the course of the season, Miami excelled when they were trailing or in close games. In the 16 games that Miami conceded the opening goal, they managed to produce a .625 winning percentage (8-4-4 record), which is the best mark in the league. Only one other club has won five such games this season and no other team has a winning percentage above .500. Miami is also the second team in MLS history to win at least eight games when conceding the first goal of the match (excluding the shootout era). In one-goal games, the Herons have produced a 9-1-0 record, which is the best winning percentage (.900) in MLS this season.

Miami’s attack in 2024 has been led by their superstar forward duo of Lionel Messi (17 goals, 15 assists) and Luis Suárez (18 goals, six assists). Among the leaders in goals per 90 minutes this season (min. five goals), Messi ranks first at 1.07 goals per 90 minutes and Suárez sits third at 0.90. The duo produced several individual standout moments en route to the Supporters’ Shield as they became the first pair of teammates in MLS history to win MLS Player of the Matchday honors at least three times each in a single season. The Supporters’ Shield marks Messi’s 46th different major career trophy and third since joining Inter Miami CF last summer (Leagues Cup 2023 and 2024 Copa América).

The club also had consistent performance throughout the regular season from standouts including MLS All-Stars Jordi Alba (four goals, 12 assists) and Sergio Busquets (seven assists), two-time MLS Cup champion Julian Gressel (12 assists), and young emerging stars Tomás Avilés, Benjamin Cremaschi, Diego Gómez, and Federico Redondo. To date, the Herons have had 30 players see action in the regular season with 15 of those getting on the score sheet. In net, Drake Callender started 31 of the 32 regular season matches, making 102 saves and adding five shutouts.

Miami can set the MLS single-season points record (73 in 2021, New England Revolution) with wins in their remaining two games:

• Saturday, October 5 at Toronto FC (4 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV)
• Saturday, October 19 vs. New England Revolution (6 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV)

Below is the list of all-time Supporters’ Shield winners, as sorted in reverse chronological order.