Messi effect: Soccer Stars Invest Over $78 Million in South Florida

International soccer superstars have collectively invested more than $78 million in South Florida real estate over the past several years, establishing the region as a premier destination for global athletes.

Lionel Messi leads the local property portfolio among soccer players. In September 2023, he and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo purchased a waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale's Bay Colony neighborhood for $10.8 million. Beyond that acquisition, Messi owns three luxury condominiums in Sunny Isles Beach, including a unit at Porsche Design Tower and an entire floor at Regalia. The Argentine star also has four units under contract at the under-construction Cipriani Residences.

Brazilian forward Neymar made the single largest land purchase in 2024, paying $26 million for a 0.6-acre waterfront residential plot in Bal Harbour on Bal Bay Drive. An LLC associated with the property filed a notice of commencement for a new single-family home construction in May.

Fellow Brazilian legend Kaká acquired a 3,350-square-foot condominium on the 14th floor of Oceana Bal Harbour at 10203 Collins Avenue for $8.7 million earlier this year. The former FIFA World Player of the Year's unit features three bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms. Kaká won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil in 2002 before retiring in 2017.

Retired striker Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima paid $7.8 million in March for a penthouse at Onda in Bay Harbor Islands. The five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom unit exceeds 5,000 square feet in the eight-story, 41-unit condominium completed in 2024 by CMC Group and Morabito Properties.

Inter Miami midfielder Luis Suárez purchased an $11.5 million waterfront house in Bay Colony during 2024, locating near teammate Messi in the same Fort Lauderdale neighborhood. The Compass Point property spans nearly 7,100 square feet with eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms on a 0.6-acre lot featuring 425 feet of waterfront. Suárez previously played alongside Messi at FC Barcelona from 2014 to 2020.

Sergio Busquets, regarded as one of soccer's best defensive midfielders, paid approximately $8.7 million for a seven-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bathroom house on Seneca Road in the Sea Ranch Lakes community in 2023, the year he joined Inter Miami. He and his wife sold the Broward County property for $9 million earlier this year following his retirement.

French midfielder Paul Pogba paid $6 million in 2020 for a unit at the Zaha Hadid-designed One Thousand Museum condominium tower in downtown Miami. That same year, David and Victoria Beckham acquired a full-floor unit in the identical building for $19.8 million.

The concentration of soccer talent investing in South Florida real estate stems largely from Inter Miami's founding in 2018 by Beckham and his partners, followed by Messi's recruitment in 2023. The World Cup recently concluded its Miami run, drawing an estimated one million tourists to the city and cementing the region's status as a global soccer hub.