CLEVELAND — The Columbus Crew are off to another great start this season and are getting ready for a historic matchup next weekend. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Columbus Crew will host Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland on Saturday April 19th

  • The team is expecting a near sellout with over 65,000 fans set to attend

  • Crew Director of Player Engagement Dante Washington hopes the game will help grow the team's fan base in Northeast Ohio

The Crew sits atop the Eastern Conference as one of only two undefeated teams in Major League Soccer. The other unbeaten team is Inter Miami CF, led by global superstar Lionel Messi. 

The two teams will play a historic match on Saturday, April 19th at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland. 

It’s an opportunity for the Crew to play in front of its largest crowd of the season as the Cleveland Browns’ Huntington Bank Field seats 67,431 fans compared to just a 20,371 capacity at the Crew’s normal home stadium, Lower.com Field in Columbus. 

Browns and Crew owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said the decision to move the game from Columbus to Cleveland will allow more fans to take in the highly anticipated matchup and meet the ticket demand a star like Messi brings.

More importantly for the franchise, as Dante Washington, director of Player Engagement, explains, it’s an opportunity to continue to grow its fan base across the state of Ohio. 

“I’ve been around the team for a long time, so I’ve seen that we do have fans in Cleveland,” Washington said. “The whole idea is to get even more fans here in Cleveland. To be able to play this game up here, hopefully more people will be exposed to the Crew and become lifelong fans. We’re just over a week away. It’s really exciting to be able to have a competition somewhere we’ve never been before.” 

Washington said the Crew is expecting a near sellout for next Saturday’s game with more than 65,000 soccer fans across Ohio expected to fill the stadium and root on the team against Messi and Inter Miami CF.