MIAMI, KOMPAS.com - Cita-cita David Beckham untuk memiliki klub di Liga Sepak Bola Amerika Serika (MLS) akhirnya tercapai. Otoritas sepak bola dan pengelola liga di Negeri Paman Sam itu akhirnya memberi lisensi bagi Beckham memiliki klub MLS yang berbasis di Miami, Senin (29/1/2018).
David Beckham telah mengutarakan rencananya soal Miami pada empat tahun lalu, tepatnya pada Februari 2014. Namun, dia menghadapi sejumlah kendala seperti menemukan lahan untuk pembangunan stadion.
Beckham mengaku sempat frustrasi karena tak kunjung mendapatkan lisensi klub yang dijanjikan akan rampung pada 2016 atau 2017. Kini, masalah tersebut tinggal sejarah.
"Saat itu terasa menyakitkan, Sebuah proses yang harus dilalui," kata Beckham seperti dilansir BolaSport.com dari Sky Sports.
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"Saya pikir proses dalam empat tahun ini berjalan dengan positif. Saya selalu percaya dengan proyek ini. Oleh karena itu, saya tidak pernah menyerah," ucap Beckham.
The excitement is palpable! #FutbolMiamiMLS @MLS pic.twitter.com/tCJdNrdpYu
— Fútbol Miami MLS (@futbolmiamimls) January 29, 2018
Sosok yang semasa aktif bermain pernah mempersembahkan treble untuk Manchester United pada musim 1998-1999 ini menegaskan tekadnya yang begitu besar untuk memperjuangkan klub Miami.
"Ada banyak rintangan, tetapi saya orang yang gigih dan saya tidak menyukai kekalahan," ujar Beckham.
Dengan demikian Miami akan menjadi klub ke-25 di Major League Soccer menyusul Los Angeles FC dan Nashville yang menjadi klub ke-23 dan ke-24. (Septian Tambunan)
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Jakarta - David Beckham resmi meluncurkan klub sepakbolanya. Empat tahun mendatang, proses pendiriannya akhirnya rampung. Bertempat di Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, Amerika Serikat, Senin (29/1/2018) waktu setempat, Beckham meluncurkan tim sepakbola yang berbasis di Miami. Klub itu nantinya akan berlaga di Major League Soccer pada 2020 mendatang. [Gambas:Twitter] Dalam peluncuran itu, Komisioner MLS, Don Garber, mengesahkan klub milik Beckham akan berbasis di Miami. Kota itu memang menjadi target Beckham sejak lama. Beckham memulai proses pembuatan klub ini sejak 2014. Selama empat tahun, banyak kendala dihadapi Beckham untuk mendirikannya, seperti kendala mencari lahan untuk stadion serta permasalahan pemiliihan wilayah klub. "Itu saat-saat yang sulit, sat itu kami cuma menunggu dan berpikir kalau mimpi ini tidak akan terwujud," Beckham menjelaskan saat-saat kesulitan mendirikan klubnya, seperti dilansir Daily Mail . "Tapi saya tidak pernah menyerah. Dalam hidup atau karier, tak ada yang saya lewati dengan mudah. Saya diberi tahu kalau saya tidak akan bisa bermain di Inggris karena tubuh saya terlalu kecil dan kurus. Saya mengakhirinya dengan karier cemerlang, tapi apa yang coba saya ajarkan kepada anak-anak saya adalah jangan pernah menyerah di saat-saat sulit, jangan pernah," ia menambahkan dengan emosional. Beckham bisa mendirikan klub di Amerika Serikat berkat kesepakatan saat ia diminta pindah dari Real Madrid ke MLS pada 2007 lalu. Ia mendapat keringanan soal pembiayaan mendirikan klub. Guardian menyebut, setiap pemilik lain diwajibkan membayar 150 juta dolar untuk membeli franchise di MLS. Sementara Beckham, beserta rekan-rekannya yang tergabung dalam grup Miami Beckham United yakni Simon Fuller, Marcelo Claure, Tim Leiweke, Jorge dan Jose Mas, serta Masayoshi Son, hanya perlu membayar 25 juta dolar. Dan Miami akhirnya punya klub sepakbola lagi. Sebelumnya ada The Fusion, yang sempat berkiprah pada 1998 hingga 2001 di MLS, namun gulung tikar karena tidak mampu menyedot banyak penonton. Garber menilai, apa yang dilakukan Beckham adalah sebuah hal yang bersejarah. Ia senang sebab mantan pemain Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan, dan Paris Saint-Germain itu bisa mewujudkan ambisinya. "Inilah hari-hari yang benar-benar mengharukan hati dan sangat banggakan. Hal-hal besar datang kepada mereka yang menunggu. Hari yang menjadi salah satu hari bersejarah di liga ini," Garber mengatakan. "David akan ingat saat pertama kali bertemu dan dia bilang dia ingin menumbuhkan olahraga tapi suatu hari dia ingin menjadi pemilik. Dia bekerja bertahun-tahun untuk menemukan sosok yang tepat," ia menambahkan. Beckham sendiri sudah merasakan atmosfer persaingan MLS. Saat bermain untuk LA Galaxy pada 2007-2012, eks bintang timnas Inggris itu meraih dua gelar MLS.
David Beckham David Beckham wants to bring Class of '92 spirit to his Miami MLS team Former England captain has endured long journey to found club
Beckham paid $25m for rights to new expansion franchise Play Video 1:16 David Beckham's 'dream comes true' as he launches new MLS Miami team – video
An emotional David Beckham said Miami had made his “dream come true” after finally becoming a Major League Soccer team owner. The Miami MLS team plans to enter the US top-flight as its 25th team in two years.
The new club, which is yet to be named, was rubber-stamped by MLS 1,454 days after the former England captain arrived in Miami pledging to bring a professional team to the city. Now, with most of the hurdles cleared, MLS commissioner Don Garber has awarded Miami a franchise that will bring professional football back to the city for the first time since 2001.
Speaking to the UK media following the event, Beckham emphasized his Miami team will seek to bring in top stars, but also rely on an academy model to develop homegrown talent.
The former England captain expressed a desire to replicate the success of the ‘Class of ‘92’ – the group of young players who emerged to forge over a decade of success at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson’s guidance.
“We want to reach for the stars, we want the best players in, but more importantly for us we want to create a state of the art academy where we have a hotbed of talent in this part of America,” he said. “If we get that right, that will make us and the people of Miami even more proud to support their team, because they’re seeing young kids, their sons, coming into this team and have the chance to play professional football.”
Monday’s announcement brings to a close a long saga during which failed stadium initiatives, local political maneuvering and a search for additional investment threatened to derail the project. A major breakthrough came last June, when the investment group secured the final three-acre plot of land necessary to build the new arena in the city’s Overtown district, describing it last year as “the last chance to get a stadium or soccer team.”
The project remained on the verge of collapse until local construction magnates the Mas brothers, Jorge and José, joined the ownership group in December shortly after losing out on the bidding to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team.
“[The struggle to found the club] speaks to our desire to have an MLS team in Miami,” said Commissioner Garber. “This is a very important city in our country. It’s very culturally diverse, it’s got enormous energy and a Hispanic and Latino culture that really is one of the key demographic drivers in our country, which as you all know, is more important now than at any other time, in terms of what that means politically.”
Beckham’s group has long envisioned a European-style “walk to the match” in the historically African American neighbourhood, where there is still ardent opposition and an ongoing legal appeal. It’s a couple of miles away from the initially-proposed waterfront location next door to the NBA’s Miami Heat, but a world away in terms of the glamour originally sought by Beckham in 2014.
Beckham added: “I’m English, so I’m coming into this wanting to learn, but I want to be a good neighbour. I don’t want to have any problems and obviously we want to make people happy.”
The investment group is also bringing “every penny” to build the new arena after the city, stung by the construction of the Marlins Park baseball stadium at an estimated public cost of $2.4bn over 40 years, closed the public purse strings to new stadium projects.
That financial burden was lessened by Beckham’s right to purchase an MLS expansion franchise for just $25m. Part of the contract that brought him to the LA Galaxy in 2007, it’s a very agreeable deal. Nashville will have to pay a reported $150m expansion fee to become the league’s 24th team.
The appetite for the football in the city is currently at its highest since the Miami Fusion folded back in 2001. Recently, while Beckham’s group wrangled with politicians, second-tier Miami FC, co-owned by Italian legend Paulo Maldini, has come to the fore. The team made it to the quarter-finals of the US Open Cup last season drawing crowds upwards of 10,000 during the run. The MLS team, with Beckham behind it and rapid support already in place, will hope to build on that.
Eric Braz, founding member of the Miami MLS Southern Legion Supporters Group, until Monday the game’s loyalest fans without a team, said: “My life is complete again. This is going to bring the community together around soccer. We set this group up in a bar 10 years ago. There were times we thought this wasn’t going to happen, but today we finally get to celebrate.”
Story highlights David Beckham awarded Miami MLS franchise
Miami will become league's 25th franchise
Beckham first exercised option to buy franchise in 2014
(CNN) After years of wrangling and complications over potential stadium sites, David Beckham has finally been awarded a Major League Soccer franchise in Miami, Florida.
The former Manchester United and LA Galaxy star appeared alongside MLS commissioner, Don Garber, at the Adrienne Arsht Center Monday where it was announced that the league's 25th franchise would be based in the city.
"Our mission to bring an MLS club to Miami is now complete, and we are deeply satisfied, grateful and excited," Beckham said in a statement released by the MLS.
Garber added that the league was "committed to bringing Miami the elite-level soccer team, stadium and fan experience it richly deserves."
The Beckham franchise will be backed by Cuban-American businessmen Jorge and Jose Mas, CEO of Sprint Corporation Marcelo Claure, entertainment producer Simon Fuller and the founder of Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank, Masayoshi Son.
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