KOCHI: The Messi project of the Kerala government was always a messy business. From the start, it was riddled with confusion, shifting sponsors, and half-baked plans that kept fans guessing whether Lionel Messi would ever set foot in the state.
It began last November, when Sports Minister V Abdurahiman grandly announced that Argentina would play an international exhibition match in Kerala. The event’s sponsorship was first handed to a faction of the All Kerala Gold & Silver Merchants Association (AKGSMA), which proposed a bizarre “purchase-point ticketing system” through its Oloppo app — offering tickets in exchange for reward points on jewellery and consumer purchases. It never took off.
“It had to do with clearances for fund transfers from the Reserve Bank of India. Even though we tried, we could not get the required sanctions in time,” said Moidu Varamangalath, state working secretary of AKGSMA.
Following the setback, the project was handed over to the Reporter Broadcasting Company in December.
But even then, silence prevailed for months. When the Argentine Football Association (AFA) finally announced this August that its November window would be dedicated to Angola and India, hopes were revived -- albeit briefly. The match was first planned at Thiruvananthapuram’s Greenfield Stadium, but the idea drew criticism since the cricket ground’s hard surface posed injury risk to players.
The venue was then shifted to Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium — another problematic choice. The home of the Indian League (ISL) team, the Kerala Blasters, had repeatedly been flagged for safety and structural issues. In fact, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) denied the club a licence in May over safety concerns at the venue.
“Even though we hoped that Argentina would come, the confusion from the beginning cannot be ignored. Agencies close to Messi and Team Argentina were sure he won’t be coming. It’s not easy to bring an entire team like this, considering their tightly packed club schedule,” said veteran sports journalist K Pradeep.
Adding to the intrigue, both AIFF and the Kerala Football Association were not part of the entire exercise -- unusual for an international fixture of this scale.
Now, with AFA confirming Angola as their only November stop, the much-hyped Kerala fixture has collapsed.
The sponsors say they will aim for the March 2026 window, but that, too, looks improbable with the FIFA World Cup just three months away.
