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Lionel Messi’s highly anticipated trip to Kochi, Kerala, in November for an international friendly with Argentina has been postponed, the event’s sponsor announced on Saturday (October 25). The match was supposed to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi on November 17. Anto Augustine, the Kerala-born businessman and the Managing Director of Emaraj Group International, took to Facebook and attributed the postponement to ‘delay in receiving’ permission from FIFA, the international football body. He suggested the match in Kerala will be held during the next international window, and that the new date for it will be announced soon. “Considering the delay in receiving FIFA’s permission, after discussions with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), it has been decided to postpone the match from the November window,” Augustine wrote. A report in the news agency PTI said Officials in the office of Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman claimed to have not received any official communication about the postponement. It quoted an official as saying that the department will speak with the concerned authorities and confirm the change. Earlier, Spanish media outlet La Nacion, which quoted an official with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), said the three-time FIFA World Cup winners will not travel to Kerala because the Indian state failed to meet the requirements to stage the match and because “there were repeated breaches”. “We did everything possible to make it happen in November; a delegation even traveled to India to see the field, the hotel… but ultimately, India couldn’t meet the requirements,” the AFA official said. “Unfortunately, there were repeated breaches by India, and what we’re going to do is reorganize the contract to find a new date,” he added. The next international break is in March 2026, but that would be only three months before the 2026 World Cup. In some reprive for Indian fans, Messi is still scheduled to visit India in December, going from Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai to New Delhi as part of his ‘GOAT Tour’. However, there are unlikely to be any football matches in that tour.
