Leaders at Sports Summit Latinoamérica 2025 Highlight Global Ambitions
During the Sports Summit Latinoamérica 2025, executives from Club América and Inter Miami emphasized their goal of establishing themselves as global brands, backed by recent increases in followers and audiences.
Club América’s Global Reach
Alejandro González Iñárritu, the operational president of Club América, and Raúl Sanllehí, the operations football president of Inter Miami, shared their expectations for brand value during a presentation at the summit.
“We are a successful team, much due to our victories, but also for what we do off the field. It’s crucial to provide excellent service to our fans, and the engagement in December with our short Liga MX tournament triumph was truly impressive,” González Iñárritu stated, recalling their first-ever short tournament triumph.
The United States is a key market for Club América, with 15 million fans and 3.2 million social media followers.
In total, Club América amassed 36 million social media followers by the end of 2024, González Iñárritu revealed during his presentation. On a continental level, they ranked just behind the Golden State Warriors of the NBA.
“Based on data, not sentiment, our structure and income are significant. We must remain vigilant even if we face a negative streak,” he added.
González Iñárritu concluded, “I’m not being egocentric, but I believe we are among the top five most important brands in the Americas.”
Another growth area for Club América, according to González Iñárritu, is the sale of jerseys starting July 1, following their partnership with Adidas.
“I believe this is the best contract Club América has ever signed, and I also believe it will be among the top 10 best-selling jerseys by Adidas in the United States, Mexico, and Central America,” he said.
Inter Miami’s Global Impact
Meanwhile, Raúl Sanllehí described Inter Miami’s situation post-2024, after the team solidified its roster with Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba, former Barcelona stars.
In 2024, Inter Miami garnered 920 million global audience views across social media channels, a 73% increase in fans within Florida compared to the previous year. According to Google parameters, Inter Miami became the most searched team worldwide on that network.
“Our goals are to become a global football powerhouse, assist in elevating the sport alongside the league and federation (of the United States), and positively impact our community,” Sanllehí explained.
Sanllehí, previously a leader at Barcelona, Arsenal, and Zaragoza, understands the potential of Messi, Suárez, Busquets, and Alba to boost Inter Miami’s brand, having worked with them in Spain before joining the Florida-based team in 2024.
“Greatness is not achieved without dreaming and striving for it. We started strong with Lionel Messi, but we’re only five years old. We are a startup in a world of century-old clubs and markets, so we must create something similar,” he said.
Inter Miami will quickly gain global exposure in 2025 through its participation in the first FIFA Club World Cup with 32 teams.
The team currently has 40.3 million followers across all social media platforms, with 46% from South America and 24% from Asia. North America accounts for only 10%, according to a chart presented by Sanllehí.
“We are still in the early stages of building our story. We generate admiration now, but we need to cultivate passion, making fans truly our own. This requires working with our local community in South Florida and globally, ensuring all departments’ strategies align,” Sanllehí emphasized.
