From 9 to 13 December, a quiet corner of Salt Lake is set to feel a lot like Miami. The Argentina Football Fans Club of Kolkata is transforming Aikatan, a cultural complex barely a 100 metres from Salt Lake Stadium, into a Messi fan zone, where blue and white will prevail on everything from walls to ceiling, and the soundtrack will be pure rush.
At the heart of it are father and son duo Uttam and Pragnan Saha, lifelong devotees of Argentine football. Together, they have charted the country’s story from Maradona to Messi, and now want Kolkata to walk through a space that mirrors the superstar’s Florida home — complete with replica trophies and a giant screen looping his greatest moments.
A museum of memories
The La Liga Golden Boot is one of the several awards that are on display as replicas
The idea, 20-year-old Pragnan says, is simple. The exterior will echo Messi’s Miami house, while the interior will function like a museum. Fans will stroll past replicas of La Liga titles, Champions League cups, Copa America and World Cup trophies, Ballon d’Ors and Golden Boots, and look up to a ceiling covered with 896 footballs — each one marking a goal from Messi’s career.
At the centre will stand a huge LED wall playing Messi’s finest moments alongside the club’s own two-decade journey. And on the main stage, they’ve even built a ‘Messi throne’ — kept ready in the hope that the legend himself might stop by, if only for a few minutes, between his Salt Lake Stadium commitments.
Five days, 10 rupees, endless passion
The Hola Messi Fanzone will be open from 10am to 10pm. The mornings (10am – 4pm) are for fan activities — debates, quizzes, and memory sessions — while the evenings (4pm – 10pm) are reserved for the main events.
“The Rs 10 entry isn’t a fee, but a way to maintain order and count visitors — ensuring that the fan zone belongs as much to the tea-stall regular as to someone holding a stadium ticket,” said co-convener Snehasish Datta.
Fan debates and the big day
Each morning brings a new theme: a fiery debate between Argentina, Brazil and Portugal supporters; a repeat showdown featuring local uncles from nearby tea shops; and then nostalgic screenings of classic matches from 2002 onwards.
The showpiece is on 11 December, when the club expects the Argentine ambassador from the Mumbai consulate and the Governor of West Bengal to formally open the main event. But everyone is quietly keeping 12 and 13 December marked in red — just in case Messi decides to make an appearance.
For Pragnan, it’s personal
Uttam and Pragnan Saha's love for Argentina and Messi knows no bounds
Pragnan first fell for Messi’s magic while watching the MSN trio at Barcelona as a schoolboy forward trying to copy the dribbles he saw on TV. “My father never forced Messi on me,” he says. “He only said it’s about character — about the way Messi worships football, works in silence and lets his left foot do the talking.”
Now the boy who once celebrated Messi’s birthdays more than his own is the club’s cultural secretary, running programmes that link two decades of devotion to the World Cup glory of 2022.
The father’s philosophy
Uttam Saha, the fan club’s convenor, insists on a distinction: “This is the Argentina Football Fans Club, not a Messi or Maradona club,” he says, even though both men tower over everything they do.
His own journey began by poring over black-and-white photos and Bengali magazines speculating if a young Diego would make the 1978 World Cup squad. He went on to watch 29 World Cup matches from the stands.
Ask him to choose between Maradona and Messi and he declines. “Messi is pure football,” he says. “Maradona is pure character. One is a poem, the other a novel. What matters is that Argentina remains constant as one genius passes the torch to another.”
Football beyond the field
The club’s work has spilled off the pitch and into Kolkata’s neighbourhoods. For years, they’ve organised children’s sports days in primary schools, giving away school bags and stationery in Argentina’s colours to spark fandom early.
They’ve run anti-drug campaigns where young members spend a day in local police stations, and during the pandemic, they distributed masks and face shields in Jadavpur, Howrah and Sealdah — staying close to fans who might never afford official merchandise.
For love, not money
The fanzone is set to resemble the exterior of Messi's house in Miami
“Businessmen will always find their way in,” Uttam says. “But organisers must remember the fans who can spare only a couple of hundred rupees but carry a lifetime of love.”
For that crowd, Hola Messi is meant to feel like a free kick to the heart — a space where a Rs 10 ticket opens the door to a make-believe Miami, a 20-foot Messi statue, and a screen big enough to make home TVs look like toys.
Waiting for their No. 10
Whether Messi finds time to visit or not, Uttam and Pragnan already know where they’ll be on 13 December — either waiting under their ceiling of footballs for a once-in-a-lifetime guest, or walking to Salt Lake Stadium where he is set to appear.
Because for them, it was never about whether Messi comes to them. It was always about going to Messi — again and again — because that’s what true love for a player, and for a country’s colours, is supposed to look like.