\n<\/p>\n
The much-awaited trip of the Argentina national football team, featuring star player Lionel Messi, to Kerala next month has been postponed, as confirmed by the event’s sponsor on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Anto Augustine, who was overseeing the planned friendly match in partnership with the Kerala state sports department, had previously announced that Argentina was set to play in Kochi on November 17. However, he later shared on Facebook that the match will not happen as planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to delays in getting FIFA’s permission, after talks with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), we have decided to postpone the match from the November schedule,\u201d Augustine explained. He mentioned that the match will now take place during the next international window, with a new date to be revealed soon.<\/p>\n
Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman pointed out that Argentina’s visit depends on FIFA\u2019s approval. He highlighted that the team had initially organized two matches for November\u2014one in Angola and the other in Kerala. \u201cThey will play in Angola, but we haven\u2019t heard about the Kerala match yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite support from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Asian Football Confederation, the green light from FIFA is still pending, Abdurahiman noted. He mentioned that all required documents for FIFA\u2019s clearance were submitted late on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we get FIFA’s approval soon, the match could still happen during this window. The sponsors likely meant if it doesn’t go ahead now, it will be rescheduled for the next international window,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Abdurahiman assured that inspections of the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi had been completed. \u201cThe stadium currently uses halogen lights, which take time to warm up. We are in the process of replacing them with new lights. Fire and safety checks are done, leaving only FIFA’s approval pending. We hope to receive it this week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also shared that the Thiruvananthapuram stadium was not chosen because of its poor condition. \u201cWhile Kochi’s stadium is in good shape, some minor issues have delayed FIFA\u2019s approval,\u201d he added. The minister emphasized that hosting a full Argentine team match was essential, stating, \u201cA Messi-only visit wouldn\u2019t benefit the sports sector as much; we prefer the entire team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdurahiman pointed out that some emails from concerned individuals in Kerala had contributed to the postponement. \u201cAFA representatives checked the facilities and were pleased, but messages from some here caused delays. Our own people have hindered this event,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
Previously, AFA officials had visited the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium to assess the facilities. Fans were eagerly looking forward to seeing the Argentine team, along with Messi, play against a strong international opponent in the friendly match in Kochi.<\/p>\n
Argentina Football Team’s Visit to Kerala Postponed The much-awaited trip of the Argentina national football team, featuring star player Lionel Messi, to Kerala next month has been postponed, as confirmed by the event’s sponsor on Saturday. Anto Augustine, who was overseeing the planned friendly match in partnership with the Kerala state sports department, had previously<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[24737,24731,24733,24739,24736,24735,24732,24738,24734,2092],"class_list":{"0":"post-19730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-anto-augustine","9":"tag-argentina-football","10":"tag-fifa-approval","11":"tag-football-event-delay","12":"tag-football-postponement","13":"tag-international-friendly","14":"tag-kerala-football-match","15":"tag-kerala-sports-minister","16":"tag-kochi-stadium","17":"tag-lionel-messi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}