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When Antoine Griezmann arrives at Orlando City in July, he will enter MLS at a pivotal moment in the league's 31-year existence, as the competition looks to sustain the sport's momentum following the North American-hosted 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While the 35-year-old French forward won't feature for Les Bleus this summer, having stepped away from international football in 2024, he still carries a 2018 World Cup winners' medal and a level of celebrity that Orlando hasn't witnessed in a decade, since parting ways with Kaká back in 2017.
Even as MLS has increasingly become a league built around younger talent, Griezmann becomes the latest global icon to make the move in the latter stages of his career. Given the unique demands of MLS compared to leagues elsewhere, these marquee names face considerable hurdles when settling in, and Griezmann will be no exception.
Here, Sports Illustrated examines the factors Griezmann will need to navigate if he is to flourish in MLS like David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller, or encounter as many difficulties as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and Lorenzo Insigne.
The Travel
With 30 clubs spread across four time zones—and soon to be five—MLS poses a travel burden unlike any other top-10 league on the planet. Based in Orlando, Griezmann will occasionally face six-hour flights to Seattle, Portland or Vancouver, with only Florida rivals Inter Miami falling within a distance comparable to the width of Spain.
While earlier generations of MLS stars traveled commercially, teams now charter flights through SunCountry Charters, though the cabin experience falls short of the private or club-owned aircraft used by Europe's elite clubs.
Griezmann's debut is scheduled for July 22 in an away fixture against the San Jose Earthquakes, requiring a five-hour flight—roughly equivalent to the journey from Madrid to St. Petersburg, Russia.
Additional trips before the end of 2026 will include flights to New Jersey, Minneapolis, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Toronto, Chicago, and Charlotte, all part of the regular-season schedule and covering multiple climate zones throughout summer and fall.
Beyond the sheer volume of travel, MLS clubs frequently fly to matches the day before and depart within hours of the final whistle, leaving players with far less time for post-match recovery than is typical in Europe.
For some players, this is a non-issue. Messi has clearly been unaffected, having claimed back-to-back MLS MVP honors, but for others it can come as quite a shock. Away fixtures present their own difficulties too—road teams have won just 20 of the first 74 matches of the 2026 MLS season through Matchday 5.
The Lack of Polish and Sharpness
Transitioning to MLS from one of the most tactically sophisticated leagues in the world under a meticulous coach like Diego Simeone, Griezmann will need to adapt to teammates who lack the same refinement in the fundamental aspects of their game.
When Müller arrived in Vancouver, he spoke about needing to reshape his approach to take on more of the creative burden himself, rather than relying on teammates, while also learning how to get the best from players who may need an extra touch or can't consistently deliver the same passes or off-the-ball runs.
"My teammates are very open-minded," he told The Athletic in 2025. "They're ready for advice, they want to get better, and they have very good qualities. I can help them use them better on the pitch. It's a lot about … knowledge, how the game works. It's more about that than showing them how to pass a ball."
For some, that transition can be managed with the right mindset. Others, like former Toronto FC forward Lorenzo Insigne, frequently clashed with teammates who misplaced passes or failed to make the right runs. How Griezmann handles it will be entirely up to him.
The Running
Antoine strikes gold 💛
⚓️ https://t.co/EkHkc6wvlr pic.twitter.com/tQtIN6Pmkv
MLS may not match the pace of some of the world's top leagues, but it demands a significant amount of running and physical effort, drawing comparisons to the EFL Championship, England's second tier.
The league has come a long way since Pirlo described it as having "a lot of running" and "too little play" a decade ago, yet it still requires players to be in outstanding physical condition to outwork opponents and compensate for the gap in technical quality.
As a center forward at Orlando, Griezmann will still be expected to press intensely and, given the team's current weaknesses, will likely carry defensive responsibilities when out of possession. In the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, Griezmann has averaged 3.64 kilometers per match—a figure likely to be surpassed by what MLS will demand of him.
Joining Orlando City's Rebuild
Today is an important day for @orlandocitysc .
Welcoming a player like @AntoGriezmann to our club is about much more than football quality. It reflects ambition, belief, and a clear vision for where we want to go.
We know the present moment has not been easy. We feel that… pic.twitter.com/VCCILEO8c0
When Griezmann put pen to paper on his contract, he did so with Orlando City lacking a permanent manager, after the club parted ways with long-serving head coach Óscar Pareja just three matches into the 2026 season.
For his July arrival to work, the club will also need to restructure its roster, with three Designated Players already on the books: Martín Ojeda, Marco Pašalić and Braian Ojeda—one of whom will need to be brought down below a Targeted Allocation Money threshold or moved on.
With those adjustments still to be made, and the Lions' difficult start to the campaign, Griezmann arrives at an uncertain—and potentially ill-timed—juncture.
Martín Ojeda can create opportunities from midfield, and if Griezmann operates in a two-striker setup, Duncan McGuire could be a useful partner, despite losing some momentum after his move to Blackburn fell apart in 2024. At present, however, the squad as a whole lacks leadership and elite quality, and is still in the process of building a project that remains unfinished—setting the stage for a challenging start for the Frenchman.