David Beckham’s three-year-old plans to bring a Major League Soccer team to Miami may be stalled but the South East of the US will celebrate the birth of a new club when Atlanta United kick off their first season this weekend.

While Beckham promised a ‘global’ club in South Florida in February 2014, the former England midfielder has yet to even secure all the land needed for a stadium in Miami and his consortium are still searching for financial backers.

In contrast, Atlanta have a well-financed owner of their own in Arthur Blank, the businessman behind the Home Depot chain of stores and the owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

Thanks to Blank, Atlanta will play in a brand-new venue, the state-of-the-art Mercedes Benz Stadium, which will be home to both the MLS club and NFL team and will open in late July.

The new MLS team announced last week that season ticket sales have passed the 30,000 mark, making them one of the best supported teams in the league – before they have even kicked a ball.

The club have hired former Barcelona and Argentina coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino to guide them in their first season and signed up some exciting young talent from South America along with some veterans with MLS experience.

Atlanta wasn’t an obvious choice for expansion but the size of the fan-base shows MLS was wise to bring a franchise to Georgia.

“There is such an energy around soccer in the United States and I think people are realising that you can’t pigeon-hole certain cities, it doesn’t matter where you go now, soccer is a really growing sport,” club president Darren Eales said.

Until the new stadium is ready to host, the team will play at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium, starting with Sunday’s opener against New York Red Bulls.