TAMPA — The GOAT is coming to Tampa.

No, not that one.

Lionel Messi, regarded by many as the best soccer player of all time, is anticipated to take the pitch at Raymond James Stadium with his MLS team, Inter Miami FC, for an exhibition game against Orlando City Soccer on Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m., the Tampa Bay Sports Commission announced Monday.

It will mark Messi’s first career game in Tampa and the first MLS game to be played at Raymond James since 2001.

Messi cemented his iconic status when he led Argentina to the most-recent World Cup title in 2022, to go along with his gold-medal performance in the 2018 Beijing Olympics. Messi also has led Argentina to back-to-back Copa America championships.

The 37-year-old Messi is also the winner of four Champions League titles, is a six-time Champions League scoring champion, a record eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or award for the best footballer in the world and is the all-time leader in goals and assists in La Liga, the top-tier Spanish league where Messi spent most of his professional career playing for FC Barcelona.

Messi’s move to MLS instantly brought broader interest to the United States’ top-tier soccer league and made Inter Miami one of the hottest tickets in professional sports worldwide.

This season, Messi led MLS with 36 goal contributions and he led Inter Miami to the top of the MLS regular-season table. Inter Miami plays the deciding game of a best-of-three first-round playoff series against Atlanta on Saturday.

“We could not be more excited to welcome Inter Miami CF and Orlando City SC to our community,” Tampa Bay Sports Commission executive director Rob Higgins said in a news release. “To have the potential opportunity to see a generational icon such as Lionel Messi take the field in our hometown is truly special. This is something that people will tell their grandkids about.”

The preseason game between Inter Miami and Orlando City will be the first MLS game at Raymond James since the Tampa Bay Mutiny, an original MLS club, played their final game as a franchise on Sept. 4, 2001.

A presale ticket interest form is available at SoccerInTampaBay.com. Registering at the site will give fans the opportunity to purchase presale tickets starting on Nov. 13 at 10 a.m, one day before seats go on sale to the general public.