Argentina's football team, featuring star player Lionel Messi, will not be visiting Kerala next month as previously planned. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) confirmed on Saturday that the team will instead travel to Spain for training and then to Luanda for a friendly match against Angola on November 14. This announcement dashed the hopes of many fans in Kerala who were eagerly anticipating the match scheduled for November 17 against Australia at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi.

The decision to postpone the match was attributed to delays in obtaining FIFA approval, as stated by Anto Augustine, the managing director of the event's sponsor, Reporter Broadcasting Company. Augustine noted, "Considering the delay in receiving FIFA’s permission, after discussions with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), it has been decided to postpone the match from the November window." He assured fans that the match would be rescheduled for the next international window, with a new date to be announced soon.

The Kerala Sports Department had been working for over a year to bring the world champions to the state, with significant investments made for the event. The planned match was part of a Rs 200-crore mega event, with Rs 130 crore already transferred to AFA. The remaining funds were allocated for stadium renovations and logistics. However, the necessary approvals from FIFA were not secured in time, leading to the cancellation of the November plans.

In addition, Australia’s football federation confirmed that the Socceroos would be playing matches against Venezuela and Colombia in the United States during the same FIFA window, further complicating the situation for the proposed friendly in Kochi.

Despite the setback, Kerala's Sports Minister V Abdurahiman expressed optimism about future efforts to host the Argentine team. He stated, "If we only wanted to bring Messi, we could have done that. But we wanted the entire team — the world champions — to come to Kerala." He also mentioned that negative reports about the stadium's condition may have influenced AFA's decision.

While the dream of hosting Messi in November has been postponed, fans will still have a chance to see the football superstar in India. Messi is set to embark on a four-city tour in December, starting in Kolkata and concluding with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 15. For now, the hopes of Kochi's fans remain alive, albeit delayed, as they look forward to the possibility of rescheduling the match in March 2026, just months before the FIFA World Cup.