Orlando City SC has completed the long-anticipated signing of Atlético Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann, the Major League Soccer club announced on Tuesday. The 35-year-old French World Cup winner will join as a designated player when the secondary transfer window opens in July 2026, pending medical clearance and international paperwork, with a contract running through the 2027-28 season and an option for 2028-29. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Bringing Antoine to Orlando is a landmark moment not only for our club, but for our city, our supporters and for Major League Soccer,” said Orlando City owner and chair Mark Wilf. “He is one of the most gifted, accomplished and influential players of his generation, and his decision to choose Orlando City reflects the mission and culture of our club.”
Griezmann joins an Orlando side that has struggled at the start of the 2026 season, with four losses in five games leading to the sacking of head coach Óscar Pareja in March. The club also shares an increasingly heated intra-state rivalry with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
“I am very excited to begin this next chapter of my career with Orlando City,” Griezmann said. “From my first conversations with the club, I could feel a strong ambition and a clear vision for the future, and that really spoke to me. I look forward to making Orlando my new home, meeting the supporters, feeling the energy at Inter+Co Stadium, and giving everything I have to help the team achieve great things.”
Griezmann, who has scored 13 goals and provided four assists for Atlético this season, is the club's all-time leading scorer with 211 goals across all competitions. He spent ten seasons in two spells at the Metropolitano, winning the 2014 Spanish Super Cup, 2018 Europa League, and 2018 UEFA Super Cup. He has also played for Real Sociedad and Barcelona, and retired from international football in 2024 after 44 goals in 137 caps for France.
Before departing, he remains focused on finishing the season with Atlético, who face Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals and have a Copa del Rey final next month. “Let’s leave the future in the future because I’m not leaving yet,” Griezmann said. “I still have months left in this shirt, months to give my life on the pitch, both at our stadium and away, to lift that Copa del Rey and to dream of going as far as possible in the Champions League.”
