MLS Suspends Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba for Skipping All-Star Game

Even the biggest stars in Major League Soccer aren’t immune from league discipline.

Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi, who has helped bring significant attention to the league since his 2023 arrival, was suspended for one game for missing Wednesday’s league All-Star Game against top players from Liga MX. The one-game suspension is in keeping with existing league policy for players missing the key midseason event without an approved medical reason. 

Messi will be suspended along with teammate Jordi Alba. The pair were voted in to the All-Star Game, but they did not play due to fatigue-related reasons and will be out for the club’s Saturday match against FC Cincinnati. Their absence from the All-Star Game was not communicated until the day of the event. 

“Per league rules, any player who does not participate in the All-Star Game without prior approval from the league is ineligible to compete in their club’s next match,” the league said. 

Bigger Issues

While Messi and Alba did not have prior approved exemptions from the game, their absence speaks to the increased demands on pro soccer players, in MLS and in many other European leagues, and tension is rising around the sport because of it. Calendars within the sport continue to grow more compressed, with additional competitions being created and expanding around existing league play. 

“We’ve been playing practically every three days,” said Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano on Friday. “It’s not enough rest for the players. The first thing we have to think about is that football belongs to the players. And if football belongs to the players, without players, it doesn’t exist.”

Speaking Wednesday before the All-Star Game, MLS commissioner Don Garber acknowledged that public notification of the status of Messi, a major attendance draw across the league, could have been better managed.

“Yeah, we should have known earlier and we should have addressed it earlier, no doubt about that,” Garber said. 

Garber, however, also acknowledged the heavy demands that have been particularly on Inter Miami, which was one of three MLS teams in the recently concluded FIFA Club World Cup.

“I want to say something that we as a league need to deal with. We have an all-star game that we think is a real priority. As do all leagues. All-star games have a uniqueness as it relates to all the leagues,” Garber said. “Where do you fit it in the schedule and make it a priority for all your stakeholders, not just your players, but your fans, partners, taking a break? It is an important midseason break for us. At the same time, we have a player who has played nine matches in thirty days. Miami’s had a schedule that is unlike any other team. Most of our teams have had a ten-day break. Miami hasn’t.

“We had Leo playing 90 minutes in almost all the games that he played. We have to manage through that as a league. At the same time, we do have rules,” Garber said. 

The Messi situation arrives as MLS is also grappling with potential large-scale changes to its schedule and is also aiming to be more transparent about its media-rights deal with Apple.