World Cup-winning Argentinian football team led by iconic Lionel Messi will play in Kochi next year, Kerala State Sports Minister V Abdurahiman announced on Wednesday.

Addressing the to the media here, Abdurahiman said this is the culmination of the talks he had with top officials of the Argentina Football Association (AFA), held in Spain in September. “Messi would be there, so would be the full strength national team of Argentina. This has become a reality after the full support of the Kerala Sports Foundation supported people’s football movement with the Kerala government taking over every aspect, including the security arrangements of the visiting team,” he said.

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Messi last played in India in 2011, when Argentina and Venezuela played an international friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata that ended in a goalless draw.

“The official announcement will be done by a team comprising of Kerala and Argentinian officials next month. The officials from FIFA will be visiting Kochi to have an inspection of the venue and also will look into the security aspects,” added Abdurahiman.

According to the international calendar, the exact date of the match will be announced after looking into all other fixtures, including the on-going play-offs to the next World Cup. Incidentally, the efforts of the Kerala government to bring in the Messi-led winning World Cup started last year and after several preliminary discussions, things got into top gear when a high-level delegation from Kerala held discussions with officials of the AFA in Spain in September.

It was that discussion which paved the way for getting the official confirmation from the AFA officials over the possibility of the three-time World Cup winners (1978,1986,2022) visiting Kerala.

In the soccer-crazy northern districts of Kerala, the Argentina football team has the biggest support base, but even though many football buffs were expecting the friendly international match might be staged at either Malapurram or Kozhikode, which is considered to be most enthusiastic districts where football is the most popular sporting event due to a few reasons, the much-awaited match will take place in Kochi.