Lionel Messi in action© AFP
Kerala football enthusiasts will now have to wait to see their favorite player Lionel Messi and his Argentinian football team winning the World Cup playing on Kerala’s ground. It was in November of last year, the Minister of Sports of Kerala V Abdurahiman and his team after enormous efforts involving several discussion cycles with Argentina Football Association (AFA) after a meeting held in Spain, it was announced that Messi and his team would play at least one international match at Kerala as part of their exhibition matches program.
But, with the Argentina calendar for 2026 now, the Kerala is not in the context of things because the South American nation should play in China, Qatar and Africa.
Lionel Messi played for the last time in India in 2011, when Argentina faced Venezuela in an international friendly at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Among the enthusiastic fans present were several Kerala football enthusiasts, including the current secretary general of the ICC (M), my baby, who had come to encourage Messi.
Interestingly, in the crazy football districts of Malappuram and Kozhikode, the Argentine national team enjoys the largest support base – a trend that has been continuing for many years. This support reached new heights after Messi led Argentina to the victory of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Abdurahiman, originally from Malappuram, worked tirelessly to bring Lionel Messi to play Kerala. Last year, he led a delegation to Spain and announced that the long -awaited event would take place in the last quarter of 2026. However, the hopes of Abdurahiman and the government of Kerala were destroyed, and the wait continues for football enthusiasts.
More importantly, the Kerala should go to the polls in April / May 2026 to elect a new government and the next edition of the FIFA World Cup should also take place in 2026.
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
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