After weeks of uncertainty around Argentina’s trip to Kerala, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) confirmed that the Messi-led side to play a friendly match in Kerala.
According to AFA, the Argentina team will play two FIFA friendlies in 2025, with the first game, scheduled between October 6 and 14, in the United States. The second, from November 10 to 18, will be hosted in Luanda, Angola, and Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
“The Argentine national team, led by Lionel Scaloni, will have two FIFA friendlies in the remainder of 2025.
“The first, in October, from the 6th to the 14th, will be played in the United States (opponents and cities to be determined). The second, a FIFA friendlies in November, from the 10th to the 18th, will be played in Luanda, Angola, and Kerala, India (opponents to be determined),” the AFA said in their official statement.
The confirmation has come as a relief for the football fans in India after contradicting statements around Argentina’s visit created confusion. The fans went into a frenzy after Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman announced Messi’s visit by posing with AFA representatives, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer Leandro Petersen, but later backed out, saying that the deal had fallen through.
Petersen, on the other hand, accused the statement government of not honouring the agreement. Abdurahiman later hit back at Petersen and called him a marketing executive of AFA, who had no authority over the agreement.
“Petersen is an important official of the AFA, but only in marketing. The agreement was signed by the AFA president. The sponsor later told us they could not come in the October-November window. They said they might come before 2026, before the next World Cup. But there is no guarantee this government or sports minister will still be in office then, and the sponsor was not interested in that scenario,” Abdurahiman told reporters. However, the recent development has brought excitement back among the football fans in India.
Meanwhile, it is still not confirmed if Messi will board the flight to India.
Kerala’s Tremendous Support For Argentina
Messi is hugely popular in Kerala, and the Argentina team got overwhelming support from the southern state during their FIFA World Cup win in 2022, which served as the stepping stone for Argentina’s landmark trip to Kerala. Argentina obliged the love of Kerala fans for their football team and thanked the state, along with countries India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, for their support.
Messi’s Kolkata Visit
Meanwhile, according to a report in the Indian Express, Messi will also visit India for a standalone trip in December 2025. He will kick off a four city tour in Kolkata on December 12. From Kolkata, he will visit Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Delhi. This won’t be Messi’s first visit to India, as he played a friendly against Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.