Putting speculation to rest, the Lionel Messi-led Argentina are set to visit Kerala in November. Australia will be the most likely opponents for the 2022 World Cup champions.
Argentina are scheduled to reach Kerala on November 15. The match is expected to be played before November 18 in Kochi.
Argentina team manager Hector Daniel Cabrera inspected the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi on Tuesday and informed that Australia are the likely rivals.
The Australian Football Association has reached an agreement regarding the match, confirmed the Kerala sports minister V. Abdurahiman.
“Messi will come. Official confirmation received through official mail that the Qatar World Cup-winning Argentina team, including Lionel Messi, will arrive in Kerala for a friendly match in the November 2025 Fifa International Window," said Abdurahiman.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) posted on their X handle: “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... The second, Fifa friendlies in November, from the 10th to the 18th, will be played in Luanda, Angola, and Kerala, India, (opponents to be determined).”
Messi’s previous visit to India was in 2011 when Argentina had faced Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta.
The match will be played at the Kaloor Stadium in Kochi instead of the Karyavattom Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. An expert committee maintained that Greenfield Stadium is a cricket ground while Kochi hosts Indian Super League football matches, and was more suitable.
There had been controversies surrounding the team’s visit, mainly regarding sponsorships, in Kerala. Reports in early August had said the South American side would not come to the state.
But such speculation was laid to rest after the AFA put the record straight. After the match in Kerala, Messi would return to the US. A sports ministry official told The Telegraph that Messi would return to India on December 13 and stay till 15, visiting Calcutta, Mumbai, and New Delhi as part of the ‘GOAT Tour of India 2025.’
A statue of Messi is likely to be unveiled in Calcutta. He is also expected to play pickleball with Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai, before meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.