Los Angeles: Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said Friday the league remained determined to launch a team in Miami but acknowledged the task had been the toughest challenge of his 18-year reign.

Garber told reporters on the eve of Saturday’s MLS Cup final in Toronto that he was confident the long-awaited arrival of an MLS team in the Florida metropolis would happen eventually.

English football icon David Beckham heads a consortium hoping to launch a Miami team, and has been battling to secure a site for a stadium despite local opposition. The group inched towards its goal earlier this year after securing a land deal for a proposed stadium project.

“It is the most complicated situation in any market that we’ve experienced at least in my 18 years,” Garber told reporters, citing Miami’s fast-changing real-estate environment and local political structure.

Finding a local owner to join Beckham’s group was also crucial, Garber said.

“We’ve been working hard on trying to find a local owner for David Beckham. I feel confident that it will come together,” he said. “I continue to say that we want Miami in the league.

“It’s a large market, it’s a gateway city, there are a lot of values to having a team down there. I remain confident we will get something done.”

Agence France-Presse