Inter Miami hires FC Barcelona exec Victor Oliver, Phil Neville shows off his Spanish
Inter Miami added a second former FC Barcelona executive to its front office.
Victor Oliver on Thursday was named Senior Vice president, Facilities Revenues & Operations. He spent six seasons with Barcelona and will lead all Inter Miami facilities related departments, including ticketing, parking, meetings and events, food and beverages, and operations. Oliver will report to Chief Business Officer, Xavier Asensi, who arrived from FC Barcelona last year.
Oliver’s job is vital for the club as it plans for Miami Freedom Park Stadium, due to open in 2025, and the 2026 World Cup, which includes Miami among its 11 U.S. host cities. Inter Miami is expected to capitalize on the World Cup by renting out its facilities to participating national teams and being involved in pre-tournament events. The club is also seeking to expand its fan base before the move to Miami.
“We are excited that we can attract someone of Victor’s caliber to our club and believe he will be an extremely integral addition for us, particularly as we grow our season ticket base and prepare for Miami Freedom Park,” said Asensi.
“Major League Soccer has big aspirations to become one of the premier fútbol leagues in the world and it is on that trajectory,” said Oliver. “Inter Miami CF is a club with immense potential playing in a league on the rise and as a soccer fan and executive, I find that very exciting. With Miami Freedom Park coming in 2025 and the FIFA World Cup coming to Miami in 2026, I look forward to helping Inter Miami achieve its goal to become the top club in North America.”
Oliver was in charge of all of FC Barcelona’s revenues from facilities, including the club museum. His responsibilities included men’s soccer First Team, women’s soccer First Team, men’s soccer second team, basketball, handball, futsal, roller hockey, Camp Nou Tour and Museum, ice ring, food and beverages, meetings, and events.
Under his leadership, the club generated more stadium revenue than any club in Europe and opened the first-of-its-kind Barca Café in FC Barcelona facilities. FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou is the largest stadium in Europe with 99,354 seats and more than 100 concession spots. The club has more than 80,000 Season Ticket Members.
Oliver holds a Mechanical Industrial Engineering degree from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and speaks four languages: Catalan, Spanish, French and English.
FC Barcelona will play a friendly against Inter Miami on July 19 at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Limited tickets are available on the team website intermiamicf.com
Phil Neville shows off his Spanish
Inter Miami coach Phil Neville picked up some Spanish while he worked as an assistant coach with Valencia in 2015 and has been practicing since he got the job in South Florida last year. He surprised the media on Wednesday by conducting most of his press conference in Spanish.
“The other night a fan asked why I never do press in Spanish, so I am doing this for the fans,” he said, smiling.
Gonzalo Higuain can hoop
Many Inter Miami players are basketball fans, so Neville thought it would be fun to get them a basketball net. It was installed at the training facility a few weeks ago. Gonzalo Higuain, Indiana Vassilev and DeAndre Yedlin are the top three players, according to midfielder Bryce Duke. Before Wednesday’s practice the players were having fun with a shooting contest. Higuain went on a long run without missing any. “It adds another activity we can all do together, makes the team a little closer,” Duke said.
