Published on: Oct 02, 2025 02:19 pm IST

Lionel Messi confirms his go to to India later in 2025. Gets nostalgic about his final go to in 2014.

Lionel Messi is formally coming to India in December 2025. Exactly 14 years since his final look on these shores. Organisers have aligned on a mid-December window with a multi-city format designed round fan interactions, celebratory occasions, and legacy moments.

Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF shoots throughout an MLS match.(Getty Images through AFP)

“It is such an honour for me to make this journey. India is a really particular nation, and I’ve good recollections from my time there 14 years in the past, the followers had been incredible,” Messi mentioned. Notably, 14 years in the past, Lionel Messi visited Kolkata, the place he performed a pleasant worldwide match. The latest assertion of the Argentinian maestro units an emotional tone for per week that’s more likely to be dominated by nostalgia and big fandom.

What is included within the tour

The present schedules level to a Dec 13-15 window, with four-city visits throughout Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi. The stories point out the tour would culminate within the capital metropolis on December 15, the place a gathering with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been mentioned. Unlike the final tour of Messi, this time, fan occasions and stage reveals could be the middle of attraction moderately than the star in motion.

Kolkata is slated to open the tour, preserving the symbolic arc of Messi’s first go to to his return as a World Cup-winning captain. Mumbai is anticipated to characteristic high-visibility engagements, whereas Ahmedabad and New Delhi would supply a spectacular near the circuit. The particulars may nonetheless be shuffled for safety and logistics, however the four-city tour itinerary stays confirmed throughout a number of stories.

Significance of the go to

Messi’s option to foreground the road “India is a really particular nation” is far more than simply courtesy. It is a deliberate sign to his big fanbase within the soccer frenzy nation that has matured in scale and class since his final go to. For a era that has found Mess on late-night telecasts and social feeds, this could be a golden probability to observe their icon. Messi’s assertion additionally reframes the tour as a recognition of Indian fandom’s permanence and buying energy on this planet recreation.

Commercially, the go to is a tidal occasion in Indian soccer. Culturally, it is a probability to find Indian soccer inside a world dialog that Messi, greater than anybody else on this planet, can ignite by simply displaying up.

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Stay up to date with the newest sports activities information, together with newest headlines and updates from the Durand Cup Final Live. Catch all of the motion from tennis Grand Slam tournaments, comply with your favorite soccer groups and gamers with the newest match outcomes, and get the newest on worldwide hockey tournaments and sequence.

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