Is Lionel Messi Really Coming to Kerala in 2025?

Messi really coming to Kerala in 2025?

They say football is more than just a game. And boy, wouldn’t Malayalis agree! From being the land of the sevens sides to showcasing the fiercest passion at every Kerala Blasters match, our love for the sport knows no bounds. It is indeed a vikaaram for us. So, if there is even a smidge of an indication that a certain Lionel Andres Messi would land in Kerala, in Argentina colours for an international friendly, we have every right to get excited, don’t we? Well, kind of. 

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The Promise of a Footballing Dream

The out-of-the-blue announcement on November 20 last year by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was nothing if not a revelation to football fans in the state and beyond. His tweet on X read, “Kerala is set to make history as FIFA World Cup Champions Argentina are expected to visit next year! This dream is becoming a reality thanks to the State Government’s efforts and the support of @AFASeleccionEN. Let’s gear up to welcome the champions and celebrate our love for football!” Of course, the tweet itself is ancient history but still, it’s important to read between the lines.

It doesn’t take an eagle-eyed reader to catch the clearly sitting-on-the-fence “expected to visit” caveat in the CM’s tweet. Even then, it may still be lost in the frenzy while reading the boilerplate celebratory message that follows. After all, political leaders not delivering on their promises isn’t exactly a novel thing these days. Conversely, this is not to say that the particular matter is a fake promise after all.  That isn’t the main cause for concern among us fans though. As it turns out, there hasn’t been any confirmation of this from the Argentine Football Association. Yet.

Takes Two to Tango, eh?

Argentina is among the most popular football national teams on social media, with over 14.6 million followers on their official Instagram handle @afaseleccion. In addition to this, they also have an official account in English for global audiences, @afaseleccionen with 2.7 million followers as well as a separate official page for Indian fans @afa_india with another 900K followers. These accounts regularly post content centred around their players even while they play for their clubs. The AFA India page also does topical posts relevant to Indian culture like festivals. Needless to say, if there was anything under the sun that links India and La Albiceleste, it would have been announced on one of these pages or at least their official website. Their silence is perhaps a bit jarring, at least for us in Kerala.

So then what to make of Kerala Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman announcing this January about Messi’s arrival? Good question! The minister had gone on record to claim as far as the exact dates of Argentina’s arrival in India i.e. October 25 to November 2. Sadly, we also know for a fact that there is no FIFA-approved international football break corresponding to these dates. The closest windows are from October 6-14 and November 10-18 this year

Could it be a case of the minister simply fumbling the dates? As football fans, we really hope so because while friendly matches can be held outside these windows, there are a lot of obstacles to it. Firstly, these are quite rare due to the already over-burdened fixture list in elite-level football these days. Then, clubs are not obligated to let their players leave for national duty outside of these breaks. Thirdly, the late-year period falls right in the thick of the European football season, when most of Argentina’s first-team players (but not Messi who plays in the MLS) are at their clubs. Finally, the presence of an international break in two consecutive months of October and November makes another international fixture between them even more challenging, logistically speaking. Furthermore, it should be noted that the last time Argentina played in India at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium in 2011, was during the international break.

So it is not surprising that, according to a leading Kerala-based news website, when Abdurahiman was asked to elaborate, he was reportedly not quite sure, adding that he only wanted to motivate the students in attendance there. Again, this is not us saying there won’t be any Messi-mania in Kerala any time soon. Thankfully, Argentina’s fixtures for the October and November windows have not yet been finalised. For now, there’s no reason to lose hope but nothing is set in stone either.

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So, what’s next?

For starters, all we can do is wait for a word on the matter from the other party in question. Hopefully, everything turns out to be just for the best of Malayalis. After all, which football fan in Kerala does not want to see Messi playing on our own land? Unfortunately, right now the only thing we do know is that we do not have the full picture. So fingers crossed it is!

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