Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman has claimed that Argentine football great Lionel Messi will spend a week in Kerala between October and November.

The minister said last November that his government had reached an agreement with the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) regarding their men's national side led by Messi playing at least two friendly matches in Kerala.

On Saturday, the minister elaborated by declaring that "Messi will be in Kerala between October 25 and November 2". "Besides, playing friendly matches, he will spend 20 minutes on a stage to meet you all," the minister said at a public function in Kozhikode on Saturday.

It is unclear if the minister got the dates mixed up because as per the FIFA windows, there are no international matches scheduled during the time frame. There are two windows (Oct 6-14 and Nov 10-18) around the dates the minister announced. Argentina are the reigning men's world champions.

ADVERTISEMENT

TAGS

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.