As David Beckham's fight to bring MLS soccer to Miami continues, City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado in total support of the sport welcomed with open arms four top soccer clubs from Colombia Tuesday, who are in town to play a historic derby style tournament at FIU.
To highlight the popularity of the sport and the city's business relationship with the Americas, Mayor Regalado handed keys to the city to members of four teams representing the Cali, Colombia Cauca River region.
"We are proud and we welcome every nationality, every language, every color and especially every sport," Regalado said. "Colombian's are part of the soul of the City of Miami and we are honored they chose to play their tournament in this city."
"El Classico Vallecaucano" as it's known among Colombian soccer fans will match up for the first time in Colombian soccer history four of the top teams in one stadium for a pre-season exhibition tournament.
The soccer showdown between the rival teams from America de Cali, Deportivo Medellin, Atletico Nacional and Deportivo Cali kicks off Jan. 13 and 16 with double headers on both days at FIU's Ocean Bank Stadium.
Organizers of the derby expect a to fill the 20,000-seat stadium at FIU and say the loyalty of Colombian soccer fans in Miami is what drove them to bring the pre-season games to South Florida.
The FIU Stadium is one of the top venues most sought after by soccer promoters, it has played host to the CONCACAF Gold Cup twice in 2009 and 2011 which featured a number of national teams from across North American and Central America including Canada, and Jamaica.
