MIAMI — The Argentine Football Association wants to build a youth soccer academy in North Bay Village and says that could potentially lead to some of the world’s top players training in the tiny waterfront community.
The Village Commission on Monday voted to push ahead with ongoing negotiations with Argentina’s soccer governing body for a project that would include five synthetic turf soccer fields, a community center, a dog park and courts for padel, an increasingly popular racket sport, all adjacent to Treasure Island Elementary School.
A representative for the Argentine Football Association, Horacio Gennari, told the Miami Herald the facility would essentially become the organization’s “headquarters” in the United States. He said he envisions the men’s national team, one of the best in the world led by Lionel Messi, using it occasionally for training. And he said the association is talking to Javier Mascherano, a former captain of the Argentine men’s national team, about possibly leading the youth academy.
