Hyderabad replaces Ahmedabad in Lionel Messi’s ‘GOAT Tour of India 2025’

The addition of Hyderabad comes after Argentina’s proposed friendly in Kochi for November 17 was cancelled. Dutta said that in the tweaked itinerary, Messi’s tour will start in Kolkata on December 13, followed by Hyderabad the same evening. He then travels to Mumbai on December 14 and will conclude the tour in New Delhi on December 15. Messi was originally scheduled to fly to Ahmedabad on the evening of December 13.

Dutta also said that the The GOAT Cup, a celebratory seven-a-side soft-touch football match that will feature celebrities and was scheduled to be played in Kolkata and Mumbai, will also be part of the Hyderabad leg. Tickets are likely to start at Rs 3,500 and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to felicitate Messi during the programme.

Also set to feature in the tour are Uruguay great Luis Suarez and Argentina’s Rodrigo de Paul, both of whom are close friends and longtime teammates of Messi.

Ticket sales have witnessed a massive response across venues. In Mumbai, all 28,000 seats at the Wankhede Stadium, priced from Rs 6,980, are already sold out, as per ticketing portal district.in. Kolkata’s 68,000-capacity stadium is nearing full occupancy, with tickets starting at Rs 4,366, while in New Delhi, where the Arun Jaitley Stadium can accommodate 28,000 fans, prices begin at Rs 7,670 and it’s also close to being sold out.

This will be Messi’s second visit to India, with the first of those being with Argentina for a friendly with Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium. Incidentally, that was also the game in which Messi captained Argentina for the first time in his career. Dutta had earlier told this paper that he had shown clips from that match, and photos of a 75-foot statue of Messi lifting the World Cup, which he had erected in a Durga Pooja pandal that Barcelona great and Messi’s former teammate Ronaldinho inaugurated in 2023.

Dutta had said that Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Ronaldinho, both of whom had toured Kolkata in 2023, had put in a good word with Messi about their experience, which contributed to the latter agreeing to the tour himself. “When I got Emi Martinez and Ronaldinho to Kolkata, I told them that I am trying to bring Messi to India and your review will matter. If you can give a good review to his team and even Messi himself, it will help. Touchwood, I executed it in a neat and clean way, they gave a very good review to Messi,” Dutta had said.