Kerala sports minister V. Abdurahiman on Wednesday said that he had received an email reply from the Argentina Football Association (AFA) in which they expressed their willingness to play a friendly game in the state in response to the invitation sent out by the state government in June last year.
The state government is preparing for an online meeting with the AFA to work out the modalities before signing on the dotted line to host the world champions.
“This will be a huge event as far as football fans are concerned. We really wish to host this side (in Kerala),” Abdurahiman told a Malayalam channel on Wednesday.
“The world champions have informed us that they are ready to play in Kerala. This is something that football lovers in Kerala and the whole of India will cherish,” said the minister.
“There are some barriers to clear,” Abdurahiman admitted, but expressed confidence in hosting quality overseas national teams like Argentina.
But a bigger headache will be the suggested schedule. “The AFA has expressed willingness to play in July when it will be monsoon in Kerala,” the minister pointed out.
While the minister did not disclose how much the AFA would charge as an appearance fee, the last available fee in the public domain stood at between $4 and $5 million (Rs 32-40 crore).
“We have sought time for an online meeting with them where our team would discuss the details. In any case, foreign teams will play in Kerala (in the future),” he added.
The AFA had shown interest in playing in India during the June 2023 international window, but the All India Football Federation (AIFF) couldn’t host La Albiceleste because of the high cost. The world champions eventually played against Indonesia in Jakarta and Australia in Beijing during that period.
While Lionel Messi delighted fans by scoring his fastest international goal in just 79 seconds against the Australians on June 15 to win the friendly by 2-0, the world champions minus Messi won by a similar margin against Indonesia in Jakarta on June 19.
The last time the Argentinian national side played in India was in 2011 when they participated in a friendly against Venezuela at the Salt Lake stadium in Calcutta. Messi scored the lone goal of the match before 85,000 fans.
While Kerala, quite like Bengal, is divided between Brazil and Argentina when it comes to football, the Latin American side recognised its huge fan base in the southern state during FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. A large number of Malayali expatriates in the oil-rich sheikhdom and its Gulf neighbours were joined by those who flew from Kerala to throng the stadiums.
The festive atmosphere in Kerala during the world’s greatest sporting event caught the attention of the Western media. The landscape was dotted with 30-50ft-tall cutouts of Messi, Neymar Jr and Christiano Ronaldo. Even in small villages, fan parks were set up where giant LED walls sprung up.
Argentina’s ambassador to India, Hugo Javier Hobbi, hosted Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a reception in Delhi in April last year to express his national side’s appreciation of the state’s football fans. He even presented a team jersey to the chief minister.
World Cup-winning Argentinian legend Diego Maradona visited Kannur in 2012 during his second trip to India, the first being to Calcutta in 2008.
