Lionel Messi, who plays for Major League Soccer (MLS) team Inter Miami, and Royal Caribbean International announced Thursday that they will collaborate to welcome the new ship “Icon of the Seas” in Miami on January 27, 2024.

Messi, 36, will be the new cruise ship’s official emblem and will be present for the event in January. The FIFA World Cup champion issued a statement to express his delight.

“I’m thrilled and honored to join the Royal Caribbean family to celebrate the arrival of the game-changing Icon of the Seas,” Messi said in a statement. “Icon is beyond anything else that’s out there for family vacations, with incredible never-before-seen features, all designed for making memories together.”

Lionel Messi is praised by Royal Caribbean

In his own statement, Royal Caribbean President and CEO Michael Bayley praised Messi.

“Icon of the Seas is the culmination of more than 50 years of delivering memorable vacations, and it’s set to live up to its name in more ways than one when it changes the vacation industry in January 2024,” Bayley said in a statement. “It’s that ability to make such a widespread impact and change the status quo that the Icon of Icon must personify, and Lionel Messi has proven to be the perfect example of that for years in the world of sports and most recently in introducing a new era of excitement and passion for fútbol in Miami and the U.S.”