Soccer superstar Lionel Messi will take the field in his first MLS Cup playoff match on Friday, and it’ll be available free for anyone to watch via the Apple TV app.
He’ll lead Inter Miami CF against Atlanta United FC.
Messi heads for the MLS playoffs
Lionel Messi gets called the GOAT: the Greatest Of All Time. And the former Barcelona, Paris-St. Germaine and Argentina national team star brought huge attention to America’s MLS when he joined Inter Miami CF in 2023.
The team qualified for the playoffs weeks ago, and also won the MLS Supporters Shield given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record.
The MLS Cup playoffs had been scheduled to start Saturday, October 26, but then the league announced that Inter Miami — and Messi — will instead play a day early. The match will be held Friday, October 25, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Watch free on Apple TV
Also part of Friday’s announcement was a commitment to make the first playoff game available via the Apple TV app for free.
“We’re offering Friday’s match to fans worldwide on MLS Season Pass at no cost to celebrate an amazing season and Messi making his first-ever appearance in the MLS Cup Playoffs,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Services, in a statement on Wednesday. “This is a historic moment, and we’re thrilled that viewers have such an extensive array of ways to watch.”
In addition to broadcasting free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, Friday night’s match will also stream live on apple.com.
There are versions of the Apple TV app for a very wide variety of streaming boxes, like Roku and Amazon Fire, not only Mac or iPhone.
Watching the entire 2024 MLS playoffs does require a Season Pass, but the cost is only $10. And current Apple TV+ subscribers can get in on all the action for free.
A TikTok alternative
Messi superfans on TikTok can enjoy a special “Player Spotlight: Messi” presentation of Friday’s match where the camera will be trained on Messi the entire time. The stream will broadcast live on the @MLS TikTok profile and be simulcast on the @InterMiamiCF TikTok profile, beginning five minutes before kickoff. This will mark the first time TikTok has streamed an entire live soccer match with a single-player focus.
Fans can register on TikTok to stream the live event.
This article originally ran October 4. It was updated with fresh details on how to watch Messi in the MLS playoffs for free.
