Left candidate in Kerala’s football-crazy Malappuram district calls Messi’s Argentina ‘cheats’

Who would have thought that Lionel Messi, happily playing football in the United States, would be remembered with some bitterness in a constituency in the Malappuram district of Kerala, which is a week away from going to the Assembly Elections.

V Abdurahiman, the LDF candidate in the Tirur constituency in Malappuram, cited Messi and his Argentine national team. Abdurahiman, the Minister for Sports in the recent LDF government, who made an overambitious push to bring Messi and Argentina to play a FIFA friendly in Kerala, has accused the World Champions of cheating.

“They cheated us, didn't they? They betrayed Kerala. It is cheating to not visit after promising to come here,” Abdurahiman said in a media interaction with a vernacular news channel while campaigning for the election to be held on April 9.

“We didn't do anything using government money. We found a sponsor and a lot of effort was put in, but we did not expect such a betrayal from the Argentina team,” Abdurahiman said. Onmanorama reported in August 2025 that the minister spent at least ₹13 lakh of government money on a Spain trip to arrange a Messi visit.

For more than a year, Abdurahiman repeatedly promised football fans in Kerala that Messi and his 2022 World Cup-winning Argentina squad would visit Kerala. Different excuses were given with each passing FIFA window and the last possible chance in November 2025 also did not materialise. That was because FIFA did not give security clearance to the Jawaharlal Nehru International (JNI) Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi for the match.

The incident caused much embarrassment to Abdurahiman, who had tagged along with a sponsor, promising the football fans, not just a match involving Messi but even an open-bus parade and a fan interaction with one of the greatest footballers of all time.

In his latest interaction on the Messi saga, Abdurahiman said he had badly wanted the visit to happen. “Everyone knows it was not easy to raise ₹250 crores, but even that was done. But such betrayal after taking the money is so disappointing. To whom will I share my disappointment?” Abdurahiman said. He is hoping a case will be filed against the Argentine Football Association. According to him, at least five countries have 'filed cases' because 'it is understood that they (Argentina) also took money from them promising a visit but didn't go'. 

The LDF had initially announced Abdurahiman as a candidate from Tanur, the constituency he won in the 2016 and 2021 polls. However, Abdurahiman refused to accept Tanur and secured a seat in the neighbouring Tirur constituency, where he is contesting against IUML's Kurukkoli Moideen.