⚽️ HT Kick Off: Optical illusion

The demand to meet Messi is not a reflection of football’s popularity in India, says Dhiman in this issue

Dec 19, 2025

From chaos to confetti, that was the story of Lionel Messi’s India tour. In New Delhi on Monday. **Source: Sanchit Khanna/HT**

It began in chaos, ended in celebration and confetti. In three of the four cities, Lionel Messi and his friends’ tour transformed chief ministers, footballers, celebrities – including Sachin Tendulkar at Wankhede Stadium – and children into fans. In one, his first stop, he was ring-fenced by freeloaders ruining the experience for paying fans leading to carnage.

A fan-tastic experience

In Hyderabad, Messi and Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy played in opposing teams. In Mumbai, Messi and his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul enjoyed quick-pass drills with children. Amid AQI so severe that junior school classes have moved online and conditions so smoggy that his flight was delayed, Messi enthralled Delhi. Explains why Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said he was a unicorn. Explains why at times he has been compared to Muhammad Ali and the Pope.

Messi having a ball in New Delhi. **Source: ANI**

Before uploading vignettes on Instagram of his “amazing” visit, Delhi was also the only place where Messi spoke, promising to return and, maybe, play.. Which, really, is what Messi is all about. As N Ananthanarayanan wrote in HT: “The whirlwind tour showed what he does with the ball at his feet is the real message.” Not getting him to play in the country where he began his journey as Argentina’s full-time captain 14 years ago meant his visit was only about optics for affluent Indians.

Which, in itself, was fine. Except for the timing. And who knows that better than a man who can see things on a pitch his opponents often cannot, who can play that pass to Nahuel Molina. Messi’s visit coincided with that of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Noah Lyles but the athletics stars were guests at a marathon. This week, a number of top tennis players will be strutting their stuff in Bengaluru.

This tour was also not the first private visit to India by famous footballers. Pele and Diego Maradona have come to India though the former also came as a player for New York Cosmos in 1977. In 2018, Pele was a speaker at HT’s Leadership Summit.

It’s all about timing

But only Messi’s visit happened at a time when the men’s club game has been kicked to touch. It is not Messi’s fault, or that of the organiser, but terrible timing it is. In the time of ISL and I-League getting zero bids for commercial partners, it meant the only football Sunil Chhetri plays is a kickabout with Messi in the building.

ESPN calculated that in all people spent approximately Rs 23.4 crore in private sessions for a photograph with Messi and mates. Abhinav Bindra’s “quiet sadness” matters in this context.

Either Delhi or Hyderabad will not have an ISL team if the league happens this season. Mumbai has not been able to restart Rovers Cup since 2000-01 and its ISL team plays at a venue that holds 7000.

Angry fans vandalised Kolkata’s Salt Lake stadium after Lionel Messi’s early departure on Saturday. **Source: Samir Jana/ Hindustan Times**

Kolkata’s reputation takes a hit

The tour also left an iconic stadium damaged. Informal estimate of the damage to the Salt Lake stadium, refurbished by the state government for over Rs 120 crore ahead of the 2017 under-17 World Cup, has been pegged at Rs 2 crore. The damage to Kolkata’s reputation? Incalculable.

Between Eden Gardens and Salt Lake stadium – IPL, ISL and Kolkata league – no city annually deals with as much crowd at stadiums as Kolkata. Yes, there has been trouble but for most of the time, including two IPL trophy winning celebrations and an under-17 World Cup final, events have been efficiently managed.

The organiser is in jail but on Saturday morning, he was clearly helpless. His pleas to clear the pitch were ignored leading to ministers in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, including sports minister Aroop Biswas, Mohun Bagan president and general secretary and others influential enough to get field-of-play badges hijacking the Argentina captain.

The state’s reaction reminded me of what TCA Anant, in a column for Mint discussing Indigo’s meltdown, termed passive governance. “It is a style of governance marked by delayed reaction and minimal proactive engagement,” he said.

Play of the week

In other news

Bagan banned, fined by AFC: The Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has banned Indian Super League (ISL) double winners Mohun Bagan Super Giant from all Asian club competitions up to and including the 2027-28 season for refusing to travel for the group stage game against Sepahan SC in Iran in September. The club had cited difficulty in securing visas for some of its foreign players, including forwards Jamie Mclaren and Jason Cummings. The Kolkata club has also been ordered to pay a fine of at least $100,729 for its decision, which includes $50,729 for damages and losses claimed by the AFC and Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan SC.

FIFA slashes ticket prices: FIFA slashed the price of some World Cup tickets for teams’ most loyal fans following a global backlash and some will get $60 seats for the final instead of being asked to pay $4,185, reports AP. In a rare climbdown by the soccer body, FIFA has said that $60 tickets will be made available for every game at the tournament in North America, going to the national federations whose teams are playing. Those federations decide how to distribute them to loyal fans who have attended previous games at home and on the road. The number of $60 tickets for each game is likely to be from 400 to 750 per team.

Malaysia punished: FIFA has penalised Malaysia with three 3-0 defeats for fielding ineligible players, the country’s football authorities have said, reports AFP. Friendly wins over Palestine and Singapore, and a draw against Cape Verde, all at home this year, have been overturned, Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said. FIFA has already suspended seven foreign-born national team players over forged documents that claimed they had Malaysian ancestry. The FAM, previously fined $440,000, has now been hit with a further $12,500 punishment. The FAM has denied any wrongdoing and pledged to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Kylian Mbappe and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi in happier times. **Source: AFP**

Mbappe wins damages: A Paris labour court has ruled Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) must pay more than €60 million ($70 million) to Kylian Mbappé in a dispute over unpaid wages and bonuses linked to the end of his contract before his 2024 move to Real Madrid, reports AP. Lawyers argued last month before the Conseil de prud’hommes de Paris in a judicial saga involving colossal sums. The court on Tuesday sided with the player amid accusations of betrayal and harassment surrounding the breakdown of his relationship with PSG. Mbappé’s lawyers claimed PSG owed him more than €260 million ($305 million), and PSG was seeking €440 million from Mbappé, citing damages and a “loss of opportunity” after he left on a free transfer. The court’s ruling can be appealed and is unlikely to end the dispute.

IWL from Saturday: The Indian Women’s League 2025-26 will kick off on Saturday at the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) in Kolkata, with Sethu FC taking on Kickstart FC, reports PTI. The IWL will be played in two phases, with the first one stretching from December 20 to January 9, 2026, during which the eight teams will play 28 matches, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has said. The NCoE in Kolkata and the Kalyani Municipal Stadium in Kalyani are the two venues for the league, which is being held in two centralised venues this season. The second phase of the IWL is set to be held from April 20 to May 10, 2026, thus allowing player availability for the senior and U20 women’s national teams, which will participate in their respective AFC Women’s Asian Cups categories next year.

Trials for Bhutia academy: Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools (BBFS) will conduct scouting trials in Kolkata to identify talented young student-athletes for the BBFS Residential Academy, the organisation’s flagship high-performance football training and academic curriculum in association with reputed boarding schools across India, according to a media release from the organisers. The trials will take place on Sunday at NKDA Football Stadium, with participants required to report at 2:30 PM. Footballers born between 2010 and 2015 are eligible to participate.

This will be the first time Brendan Rodgers is coaching outside of Britain. **Source: AP**

Rodgers takes charge: Brendan Rodgers returned to coaching taking charge of Saudi Arabian club Al-Qadsiah, six weeks after resigning from Scottish champion Celtic, reports AP. Al-Qadsiah, whose squad includes Italian striker Mateo Retegui and former Real Madrid defender Fernandez Nacho, are fifth in the Saudi Pro League in their first season after promotion. Rodgers left Celtic on October 27, his second spell in charge damaged by scathing criticism from major shareholder Dermot Desmond that Rodgers’ conduct had been “divisive, misleading, and self-serving” and that he “contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club.” He has opted to continue his managerial career outside Britain for the first time, having previously coached Liverpool, Leicester and Swansea.

Iconic moment

Dembele, Bonmati best

Ousmane Dembele was named FIFA men’s player of the year in Doha on Tuesday with Aitana Bonmati winning the women’s award for the third year in a row, reports Reuters. Both also won the Ballon d’Or this year. Sarina Wiegman took the best women’s coach award for the fifth time and Luis Enrique won the men’s coach award after taking PSG to their first Champions League win. Full list here.