Miami Sharks pro rugby team has deep Argentina ties, will play at Inter Miami facility

The Argentine influence continues around Inter Miami as the Miami Sharks, a new professional rugby team with heavy ties to Argentina, will share the Florida Blue Training Center in Fort Lauderdale with Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates.

The Sharks will begin training at the facility in early 2024 and play their games on the grounds at the AutoNation Sports Field, which will be expanded to 5,000 seats.

Tomas Cubelli, a star on Argentina’s national rugby team Los Pumas, will be the Sharks’ inaugural captain, and the coach will be Jose Pellicena, who comes from Argentina. Uruguayan national team player Manuel Ardao is also on the roster.

“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,” Cubelli said.

Inter Miami midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi, an 18-year-old dual U.S.-Argentina national, is a diehard rugby fan. His father, Pablo, was a member of Los Pumas and started a rugby club in Key Biscayne, which Benjamin played on before he settled on soccer as his primary sport.

“I knew this project was in the works, and I am excited for them to get here and get started,” Benjamin Cremaschi said. “It will be great that this area will have a rugby team so the sport can grow here and in this country.”

One of the co-owners of the Miami Sharks is Argentine billionaire Marcos Galperin, a Penn and Stanford graduate who is founder and president of Mercado Libre, South America’s leading e-commerce and financial services company.

“It is an honor for us to train and play in the facilities where IMCF trains, we are convinced our players will thrive in such an environment and look forward to the crowds being able to enjoy another team sport in the Miami area,” Galperin said.

For more information, go to www.MiamiSharks.com