An ambitious plan to bring football legend Lionel Messi's Argentina to Kerala was riddled with bitter e-mail exchanges, blame games, repeated cancellation of contracts and buck-passing, documents show. The initial agreement shows the Kerala government initiated the visit of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the Reporter Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (RBC) was to organise the match.

The parties agreed that any controversy would be interpreted under the laws of the Republic of Argentina and arbitration would be administered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. After the termination of the contract, a second agreement was signed on December 20, 2024, between Anto Augustine, RBC and Claudio Fabian Tapia (President, AFA) and Victor Blanco (ex-General Secretary, AFA). U Sharafali, President, Kerala Sports Council, and Juan Pablo Beacon, AFA, were made witnesses.

Kerala’s Department of Sports was responsible for overseeing all protocols pertaining to the team's visit and the international football match. Two friendly international matches between Argentina and two teams ranked within the 50th place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup were scheduled to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium and in another stadium in India.

RBC agreed to pay $9 million to Tourprodenter, which was appointed by the AFA as the collection agent within three days following the date of signing the contract. An amount of $5.5 million was to be paid within 120 days of signing the contract, and another $5 million was required to be paid within three days after the matches.

AFA provided the bank details of Tourprodenter, and the amount had to be deposited in the Bank of America. It was mentioned in the agreement that if RBC doesn't make the payments, the contract may be terminated by the AFA, and if any breach happened on the part of AFA, they will be liable for damages to RBC.

One of the attractive guarantees was that Lionel Messi would play at least 45 minutes in the matches. RBC was given the exclusive right to commercialise the transmission rights for radio, internet and television for the whole world except Latin America.

Following communication from the Kerala government, the Centre issued a directive in February, 2025 to the manager, Exchange Control Department, RBI, approving remittance of $15 million to AFA through Tourprodenter in two instalments. The first instalment of $9 million was made on June 6, 2025, and the AFA acknowledged the payment six days later in a mail to then Sports Minister V Abdurahiman.

Things then started getting ugly. On June 17, 2025, Leandro Petersen, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, AFA, sent a tersely worded mail to the minister saying the payment was made after months of silence. He blamed the RBC for the delay and held them responsible for the termination of the first contract signed in April, 2024. It was communicated that of the $9 million paid by the RBC, $4 million would be applied as compensation for the damage suffered by AFA due to prolonged delay in payment, and the remaining amount would be credited against a potential new agreement.

In August 2025, an addendum was signed between AFA and RBC. It was agreed that instead of two matches, only one international friendly would be held in Kerala. The amount of $15 million remained unchanged. Since $9 million was paid, the remaining amount of $5.5 million had to be paid within 45 days of execution of the addendum, and the remaining amount ($.5m) had to be deposited after the match. RBC paid $5.5 million in October 2025.

On the same day the amount was credited, Leandro Petersen sent a notice of termination of contract to RBC with a copy to then Minister Abdurahiman. He said the payment was delayed by 11 days. The mail reveals AFA entered into successive agreements in 10 months which had to be terminated and reinstated following repeated notices and reminders. "The continued pattern of non-performance, despite numerous opportunities and formal intimations, has exceeded any reasonable tolerance," Petersen wrote in the mail. He said AFA's tolerance has been exhausted and indicated steps to seek compensation for all damages and costs.

The next day, he reiterated notice of termination in another email citing delays and lack of seriousness. In response, Abdurahiman shot off an email to AFA in September 2025. He wrote that the friendly match agreement was not an informal commercial arrangement but a government-initiated commitment approved by the various Union ministries and the RBI. The former minister blamed the AFA for failure in informing the state and RBC about the pending/rejected FIFA approval.

FIFA had rejected approval for the match and Abdurahiman, in his mail, said AFA chose to unilaterally terminate the agreement instead of taking prompt steps to secure the approval. Referring to AFA's negotiations for another match in Africa, he said AFA evaded its obligations in Kerala for commercial gain and unfairly shifted blame to the government and the sponsor.