7 Things You Need to Know About David Beckham's New MLS Franchise Inter Miami CF

Former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England superstar David Beckham is the newest owner of a Major League Soccer club after his venture in Miami was formally launched.

The 43-year-old has enormous visions for his team Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, or Inter Miami as they will be more commonly known and it has been been a dream of his for years.

Here's a look at seven things you need to know about Inter Miami...

They Are Co-Owned by the Man Who Launched the Spice Girls

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Beckham is not the only individual behind Inter Miami, with a number of prominent businessmen officially part of the club's ownership group. One of those is music mogul Simon Fuller, the man who has launched countless careers in the entertainment industry, including the Spice Girls.

Unsurprisingly, Fuller's connection to Beckham is through the former England captain's wife, Victoria - 'Posh Spice'. Fuller, who also created 'Pop Idol' and transatlantic equivalent 'American Idol', has long represented the couple's interests and is widely credited as masterminding Beckham's original move to MLS and LA Galaxy from Real Madrid more than a decade ago.

They Are 11 Years in the Making

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It was more than four years ago that Beckham announced his intention to form a team in Miami, but the project has a much longer history behind it than that.

The option to purchase an MLS expansion team at a discounted price of €25m was first presented to Beckham as part of his original contract with the league when he joined LA Galaxy all those years ago back in 2007.

After musings in 2012 that the league was interested in starting a team in Miami, Beckham and partner Fuller were identified as potential owners in December 2013, with the option being triggered just three months later in February of the following year.

They Will Be Florida's Fourth MLS Team

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By the time they start playing, Inter Miami will be the fourth team from Florida to have joined MLS since its inception in 1993 and inaugural season in 1996.

Right now, only Orlando City are currently active. In the past, there has been Miami Fusion who debuted in 1998 and folded only three years later in 2001, and Tampa Bay Mutiny, one of the original 1996 MLS teams and first winner of the Supporters' Shield. They also dissolved in 2001.

They Have a Badge Loaded With 'Meaning'

Design and marketing staff have clearly worked hard on developing every aspect of the Inter Miami badge as the official unveiling came with a detailed description of what each part 'means'.

It features great white herons, for example, year round residents of Miami and Florida, whose place in global mythologies is symbolic of 'power, protection and patience'. The feet of the two herons even interlock to form an 'M' for Miami.

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Elsewhere, the seven rays of the sun in the centre of the badge are intended as an homage to Beckham himself, representing his famous shirt number, as well...wait for it...'the seven seas that bring people to Miami from the seven continents'.

The ring around the edge of the badge is said to represent the club's 'inclusive spirit'. The shield is there to show 'strength and solidarity' and its three points represent 'the three counties of the Miami metropolis: Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach'.

They Will Wear Black, Pink and White

With playing colours confirmed as black, pink and white, Inter Miami promise to be the hipster's choice in the coming years as far as the replica football shirt market is concerned.

Fan concept designs of what the first kits might look like have already started springing up on social media, with the first official release virtually guaranteed to be a popular one.

They Will Finally Start Playing in 2020

The launch of Beckham's then un-named club was announced in early 2014 and it will have been six years by the time Inter Miami actually play their maiden MLS game, with the franchise set to finally join the league in time for the 2020 season after several years of delays.

Between the initial Beckham launch and debuting in 2020, LA FC, Atlanta United and Minnesota United have all been founded and successfully joined the league.

FC Cincinnati will be the next team to start playing games, joining for the 2019 season, with Inter Miami to take the plunge 12 months later at the same time as a new as yet un-named team from Nashville that was only formed in December last year.

They Won't Immediately Have a Stadium

One of the main reasons that it has taken so long from initial conception to formal playing for Inter Miami is the inability to find a suitable location to build a stadium that was a requirement of being granted ownership of an expansion franchise.

There were as many as four failed attempts for four different sites before a proposed development at Freedom Park on the site of an existing country club near Miami airport was eventually approved in a narrow 3-2 vote by the City of Miami in July and is set to go to a final public vote for Miami residents this coming November.

With the privately funded development covering 160 acres, it is much more than a single stadium and is billed as a 'Soccer Village' that will also feature sizeable areas of permanent green space, youth soccer pitches and other sports facilities, while promising to create 11,000 jobs and provide $40m in annual tax revenue for the city and state.

But Freedom Park isn't expected to be completed and ready to move into until 2021 which means Inter Miami will spend their first MLS season playing at a temporary home.