MLS releases 2024 schedule: Here is where, when Lionel Messi, Inter Miami will play

Expectations will be sky high for Inter Miami as Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba – and likely, Luis Suarez -- kick off their first full MLS season on Feb. 21 with an 8 p.m. home game against Real Salt Lake.

The league on Wednesday released its 2024 full regular season schedule, which will feature 34 games and run through Oct. 19, when Miami will conclude the season at home against the New England Revolution.

Other early home games at DRV PNK Stadium are Mar. 2 against Orlando City at 4:30 p.m. and Mar. 10 against Montreal at 5 p.m.

Inter Miami will face each of its Eastern Conference opponents twice and play six non-conference opponents once. The team will face a trio of MLS teams it has never played against, beginning with the season opener against RSL. The team will also take on the Colorado Rapids for the first time on April 6 at DRV PNK Stadium, and the Vancouver Whitecaps for the first time on May 25 at BC Place.

The majority of the matches will be on weekends, with 24 Saturday games, two Sunday games, and eight Wednesday games.

The MLS schedule has some overlap with the 2024 Copa America, which is being held in the United States June 20 to July 14, so that will affect MLS players on national teams from South America, United States, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama and a few CONCACAF region teams yet to be decided.

Messi (Argentina), Leo Campana (Ecuador), Drake Callender (USA), DeAndre Yedlin (USA), Benjamin Cremaschi (USA), Diego Gomez (Paraguay), Kamal Miller (Canada) are Inter Miami players who could have schedule conflicts for games of June 19 vs Columbus, June 20 vs. Nashville, July 3 vs Charlotte and July 6 vs Cincinnati.

Season ticket holders will have first access to purchase single-match tickets for 2024 MLS regular season home matches, followed by deposit holders, and then the general public. The pre-sale window will open Thursday at 9 a.m., followed by the deposit holder pre-sale at 1 p.m. Tickets will then go on sale to the public on Friday at 10 a.m.

The Mar. 2 match against Orlando City is scheduled to be broadcast on FOX, while the match against the reigning MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew on Oct. 2 will air FS1. The rest of the matches will be available to stream on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass.

Messi and his former FC Barcelona teammates, as well as coach Tata Martino, joined last-place Inter Miami last summer. The team went on a 12-game unbeaten run and Messi scored 11 goals during that stretch as Miami won the inaugural Leagues Cup title and reached the final of the U.S. Open Cup while filling stadiums everywhere they played.

Messi got injured in early September, as did Alba, and the team struggled the final few months of the season, failing to reach the playoffs. Messi missed seven of the team’s final nine games.

“You can look at it from different perspectives,” said defender DeAndre Yedlin. “In May if you had said we would have a Leagues Cup trophy, go to the final of the US Open Cup, but not made the playoffs, but you’d take the trophy. From that standpoint, it was a success.

“But with the players we have, when we were making the playoff push, I think we could have done more. I think everyone would agree on that.”

Goalkeeper Drake Callender added: “In terms of the bigger picture, what we’re capable of with this group and what we went through this year, that will make us a lot stronger and more experienced to spearhead what we want next year. Next year we’ll have a full preseason, a full year together to help us achieve our goals.”

Training camp opens Jan. 10. Inter Miami has six preseason games scheduled, five of them out of the country. The team will play against El Salvador’s national team in San Salvador Jan. 19. It will travel to Saudi Arabia in late-January to face Al-Hilal Jan. 29 and Al-Nassr (against Cristiano Ronaldo) Feb. 1 in the Riyadh Season Cup.

Then, it’s off to Hong Kong for a Feb. 4 game against an all-star team from the Hong Kong league, followed by a Feb. 7 game in Tokyo against Vissel Kobe. The one home preseason game so far is Feb. 15 against Newell’s Old Boys, the hometown team of Messi and Inter Miami coach Tata Martino.

Inter Miami 2024 Schedule

2024 Home Matches: Feb. 21 Real Salt Lake, Mar. 2 Orlando City, Mar. 10 CF Montréal, Mar. 30 New York City FC, Apr. 6 Colorado Rapids, Apr. 20 Nashville SC, May 4 New York Red Bulls, May 18 D.C. United, May 29 Atlanta United, June 1 St. Louis CITY, June 19 Columbus Crew, July 17 Toronto FC, July 20 Chicago Fire FC, Aug. 24 FC Cincinnati, Sept. 14 Philadelphia Union, Sept. 28 Charlotte FC, Oct. 19 New England Revolution.

2024 Away Matches: Feb. 25 LA Galaxy, Mar. 16 D.C. United, Mar. 23 New York Red Bulls, Apr. 13 Sporting Kansas City, Apr. 27 New England Revolution, May 11 CF Montréal, May 15 Orlando City, May 25 Vancouver Whitecaps, June 15 Philadelphia Union, June 29 Nashville SC, July 3 Charlotte FC, July 6 FC Cincinnati, Aug. 31 Chicago Fire, Sept. 18 Atlanta United, Sept. 21 New York City FC, Oct. 2 Columbus Crew, Oct. 5 Toronto FC.