'This is a fantastic opportunity': Global icon Messi officially joins MLS' Inter Miami

Lionel Messi has finalized his deal to join Major League Soccer, and after years of planning and pursuing, Inter Miami has landed a global icon.

Messi's contract became official Saturday, a little more than five weeks after he declared he would be coming to Inter Miami. The team will introduce him Sunday night at its stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the first home match of the Messi era could be as early as Friday in a Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul.

A formal news conference is scheduled for Monday, and his first training session with his new club is expected on Tuesday. The club previously announced Messi's deal will be for two-and-a-half seasons and pay him between $50 million and $60 million US annually, putting the total contract value between $125 million and $150 million in cash alone.

"BIENVENIDO 10," the team posted Saturday on Twitter.

Welcome, Messi, indeed.

"We are e overjoyed that the greatest player in the world chose Inter Miami CF and Major League Soccer, and his decision is a testament to the momentum and energy behind our League and our sport in North America," MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. "We have no doubt that Lionel will show the world that MLS can be a league of choice for the best players in the game."

It is, in many ways, an unusual marriage. Messi, still perhaps the biggest star in the game, is signing with a team that entered Saturday in last place in the MLS's Eastern Conference standings. It's a club in just its fourth season that plays in a temporary home that will seat only about 22,000 people when some rushed renovations like adding extra bleacher seats get completed.

Doesn't matter. Soccer royalty now plays for Inter Miami.

Messi arrived in South Florida on