Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan will be in Kolkata on 13 December to meet and greet Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi, he said on Thursday.
Kolkata will be the first stop in Messi’s whirlwind trip — ‘GOAT Tour of India 2025’ — followed by Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
Messi is visiting the City of Joy after a gap of 14 years.
Sharing a post on X, Shah Rukh wrote, “This time round not planning my Knight in Kolkata…. and hoping the day Ride is completely ‘Messi’. See you guys on the 13th at the Salt Lake Stadium.
During his day-long trip in Kolkata on December 13, Messi will be felicitated at the Eden Gardens Stadium by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
In Messi’s honour, a seven-a-side tournament “Goat cup” will be held at the Eden Gardens.
The stadium will host the legend for the second time. Messi is expected to share the field with Indian sports icons Sourav Ganguly, Bhaichung Bhutia and Leander Paes.
Messi will not take the field, but the Kolkata fans will get a display of his penalty shooting skills.
Messi, who has scored 193 goals in 112 international appearances, won the Ballon d’Or eight times, and is for many, the ‘GOAT’ — greatest of all time.
He will also hold a workshop for children and launch a football clinic.
Earlier, Ahmedabad was touted as one of the cities on Messi's India tour. Kerala was another pit stop given the Argentine team were scheduled to play a friendly in Kochi.
Both those events were cancelled, with Hyderabad offering an alternate pitstop.
With Hyderabad on board, the GOAT India Tour achieves a true pan-India presence, spanning the east (Kolkata) and south (Hyderabad) on December 13, west (Mumbai) on December 14 and in the end, north (Delhi) on December 15.
In Mumbai, Messi will also attend the “Padel GOAT Cup” and participate in a celebrity line-up that is slated to include Sachin Tendulkar, M.S. Dhoni, and Bollywood stars.
This will be Messi’s first visit to India since 2011, when he captained Argentina in a FIFA friendly against Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium.