MIAMI — Inter Miami coach Tata Martino is leaving the club for personal reasons, league sources confirmed. He has a press conference scheduled for Friday to make the announcement alongside team owner Jorge Mas and president of football operations Raul Sanllehi.

Martino, a finalist for MLS Coach of the Year, led Inter Miami to a league-record 74 points, which also earned the team the Supporters’ Shield for best regular-season record. The team scored a league-high 79 goals.

Miami, with a star-studded roster including Argentine icon Lionel Messi, fell short of expectations with a first-round exit from the MLS Playoffs after losing the best-of-3 series to Atlanta United.

Martino, 61, had a year remaining on his contract. Tom Bogert of GIVEMESPORT was the first to report the news.

Two names that have emerged as potential replacements for Martino are Xavi Hernandez and Javier Mascherano, both former teammates of Messi’s. Hernandez, 44, is a Spanish legendary midfielder who played at Barca and coached the team from 2021 to 2024. Macherano, 40, was a star center back/defensive midfielder for the Argentine national team, Liverpool and Barcelona and currently coaches the Argentina U20 national team.

A native of Rosario, Argentina, the same hometown as Messi, Martino joined Inter Miami in July 2023 upon Messi’s arrival and was a natural choice to get the job. He had led Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title in that club’s second season, had coached in two World Cups with Paraguay and Mexico, reached three Copa America finals and, vitally important, coached Messi at FC Barcelona and with the Argentine national team.

Martino replaced Phil Neville and took over a team that was in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-13-0 record just past the midway point of the season. Known for his calm demeanor, attention to detail and legendary film sessions, Martino quickly gained the respect of his players.

With the addition of Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, Martino led the team to the 2023 Leagues Cup title later that summer.

“Tata is a highly respected figure in our sport whose track record speaks for itself,” team co-owner David Beckham said upon his hiring. “We are confident that his achievements in the game and experience as a head coach will inspire our team and excite our fans and look forward to seeing the impact he will have on and off the field.”

Mas added: “Tata has coached at the highest levels and we believe that experience will be hugely beneficial to us as we aim to compete for titles.”

Martino is known for his high-pressing style, which is exciting to watch and produced 79 goals this season, which led the league. Messi and Luis Suarez combined for 41 of those goals. The team’s defense allowed 49 goals, and the goal differential was plus-30, which ranked second in the league.

He was able to blend superstars Messi, Suarez, Busquets and Alba with young players such as Yannick Bright, Benja Cremaschi, Ian Fray, Noah Allen, Diego Gomez, Federico Redondo and Tomas Aviles.

“Tata’s a world class coach,” Allen said. “I’ve learned so much from him. He’s the best coach I’ve had so far in my career. I’m grateful for him. He came in mid last year, things were kind of difficult, and he turned things around. He had to change a lot of formations throughout the whole year because of injuries to Leo (Messi) and others, and because our players had to go to their national teams. He’s had to handle that and pressure from the media and we kept winning.”

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