URUGUAY
New Inter Miami star Luis Suárez plans own elite-level professional team
The former Barcelona striker has already set up his own sports complex in Uruguay and wants to have a team in the league pyramid.
Luis Suárez hasn’t hung up his boots yet but is already thinking about his future, which looks set to see him stay in the world of soccer as a club owner. After leaving Brazilian club Grêmio and signing for Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in MLS, the Uruguayan has also been involved in the construction and running of Ciudad Deportiva LS sports complex, also known as Complejo Suárez. At present, there are three soccer fields for children’s and youth teams, three for professional teams and a 1,500-capacity stadium. However, the ultimate goal is to have a team in the Uruguayan Primera División.
When could Suárez’s team complete in the Uruguayan top flight?
“Luis Suárez wants to have his own professional team,” Danilo Alvez, the project’s sports coordinator, told Brazilian news outlet GeGlobo. “We have to take things step-by-step. LS is already a public limited sports company, but to reach the top level of Uruguayan football, you have to start in the fourth division. The whole process can take about seven years and you can incur a lot of financial losses. But professionalisation is the next step, without a doubt.”
Where will Suárez’s team be based?
The construction of the sports complex started in 2018 in Ciudad de la Costa, a few miles to the east of Montevideo. Four years later, the facility added a semi-Olympic pool, a gym and different rooms for other types of activities. In 2021, while Suárez was playing for Atlético de Madrid, he bought more land nearby to be able to continue expanding. “I can’t say how much was spent, but I can assure you it was a few million dollars. And all that without any help from the government, not a single cent was tax exempt,” added Alvez.
Only two professional leagues in Uruguay
Suárez’s plan is to enter a team in the Uruguayan fourth division, which he hopes will work its way up to the top tier. This is the only route available to new teams, which must play by the rules of the national league pyramid. The fourth division, known as Division D, is only two years old and is mostly made up of recently-founded clubs. In Uruguay, only the first and second tiers are professional leagues.
“The most difficult thing is to create a feeling of belonging. We have to try to create this culture with our members, get them to know what it means to wear the jersey and to come here with friends and family, until Deportivo LS is the main club in Ciudad de la Costa”, concluded Alvez.