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

• Photo and video footage from Inter Miami’s season and tonight’s match can be found **HERE**.

With this distinction, the Herons earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference and home field advantage in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs. As winners of the Supporters’ Shield, Inter Miami will compete in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, marking their second consecutive season in the competition.

Miami will host a playoff match 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.

Inter Miami debuted in MLS in 2020 and 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 in their first five seasons in MLS. Since expanding the regular season to 34 games in 2011, Miami has become only the third team to win the Supporters’ Shield after missing the playoffs 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 by more than 25 goals. The Supporters’ Shield marks Martino’s ninth trophy as a manager in club soccer and fourth as an MLS head coach. After today’s games, Martino has a .655 winning percentage (60-25-28 record) in the regular season, the highest winning percentage by any coach in MLS history (minimum 20 games coached).

Over the course of the season, Miami excelled when trailing or playing in close games. In the 16 games in which Miami got the opening goal, they managed to post a winning percentage of .625 (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 after conceding the first goal of the game (excluding the shootout era). In one-goal games, the Herons have amassed a 9-1-0 record, which is the best winning percentage (.900) in MLS this season.

Miami’s offense in 2024 was led by their superstar forward duo Lionel Messi (17 goals, 15 assists) and Luis Suarez (18 goals, six assists). Among the leaders in goals per 90 minutes this season (min. five goals), Messi ranks first with 1.01 goals per 90 minutes and Suárez third with 0.89. 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 each win MLS Player of the Matchday honors at least three times in a single season. The Supporters’ Shield marks Messi’s 46th major career trophy and third since joining Inter Miami CF last summer (2023 Leagues Cup and 2024 Copa América).

The club also performed consistently throughout the regular season with standout players including the MLS All-Stars Jordy Alba (four goals, 12 assists) and Sergio Busquets (seven assists), two-time MLS Cup champion Julian Gressel (12 assists) and young rising stars Tomás Avilés, Benjamin Cremaschi, Diego GomezAnd Federico Redondo. So far, the Herons have seen 30 players in action in the regular season, with 15 getting on the scoresheet. In net, Drake Callender started 31 of 32 regular season games, making 98 saves and adding five shutouts.

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

• 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, sorted in reverse chronological order.