Glitz Over Game: Lionel Messi's India Tour Leaves Legends Asking, ‘What About Indian Football?’

Lionel Messi returns to India after 14 years, but this time for a glitzy, star-studded promotional tour — not football. Kolkata readies for nostalgia, while ex-players slam the visit as a “gimmick” and “insult.”

Fourteen years after he last set foot in India, Lionel Messi is returning — but not the way Kolkata remembers him.

Back in 2011, more than 85,000 fans shook the Salt Lake Stadium as the Argentine genius danced past defenders in a charged friendly against Venezuela. Some clung to terrace edges, others wept just watching him warm up. Messi didn’t score that night, but Kolkata went home believing it had touched greatness.

This time, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner arrives not as a footballer, but as a global icon packaged into a 72-hour promotional whirlwind. The ‘G.O.A.T. India Tour 2025’ — spanning Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi — is high on glitz, low on football, and unmistakably commercial.

Yet, for a city that still worships Pele, still chants Maradona, and still remembers Dunga’s crisp passes and Higuita’s scorpion kick, ignoring Messi is simply impossible.

Kolkata Prepares for Messi — Even Without the Ball

Organisers have thrown open 78,000 seats at the Salt Lake Stadium for Messi’s 45-minute appearance on Saturday morning — priced up to ₹11,800. For a non-football event, many wonder whether Kolkata’s famously emotional fanbase will turn up with its old frenzy.

But the city is dressing up anyway.

A new ‘Messi landmark’ — a colossal 70-foot statue of him lifting the World Cup — is ready to rise near the Sreebhumi Clock Tower. Police have denied permission for a large public inauguration, so Messi will unveil it virtually from his hotel room on EM Bypass.

A massive 25ft x 20ft Messi mural, originally designed for next year’s Durga Puja, will also be revealed on Saturday and later handed to him at the stadium.

He will spend only a few hours in Kolkata before flying to Hyderabad at 2 pm.

A Star-Studded, High-Octane Tour

Hyderabad entered the itinerary only after the Kochi friendly was scrapped. The Telangana government is rolling out a red carpet — the GOAT Cup, backed by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, will include a celebrity 7v7 match, penalty shootouts, a youth masterclass and a musical tribute.

The glitziest portion of Messi’s trip unfolds in Mumbai, where he, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul will headline a 45-minute philanthropic fashion show on Sunday, December 14.

“There will be celebrity models, cricketers, Bollywood celebrities, millionaires, founders. Tiger and Jackie Shroff, John Abraham among others,” said Satadru Dutta, the sole promoter of the tour.

Suarez will take part in a Spanish music show, while Messi is expected to bring “some memorabilia” from his 2022 World Cup triumph for auction.

Before the fashion show at Wankhede, Mumbai will host a Padel Cup at the CCI.

Messi will conclude his India tour in New Delhi, where he is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, December 15.

Prodigies from Minerva Academy — who swept the Gothia Cup, Dana Cup and Norway Cup — will be felicitated in his presence. A nine-a-side celebrity match will also take place.

Kolkata’s Football Legacy Lives Through Its Icons

Kolkata’s relationship with football is stitched into its emotional fabric. Messi’s return — however commercial — taps into a history unmatched anywhere else in India.

It began in 1977, when Pele and the New York Cosmos played Mohun Bagan at Eden Gardens, a night that lives in folklore. When Pele returned in 2015 after hip surgery, he reunited with the class of ’77 and told the crowd: “You can never have another Pele.”

Germany’s Oliver Kahn drew over a lakh fans in his 2008 farewell match. Rene Higuita stunned Kolkata with his scorpion kicks in 2012. Dunga and Bebeto inspired a generation.

But no one quite set Kolkata ablaze like Diego Maradona. His 2008 and 2017 visits saw nearly a lakh people throng the stadium just for a glimpse.

Even Diego Forlan, fresh from winning the Golden Ball at the 2010 World Cup, was greeted like royalty.

Messi’s visit, despite its limitations, adds to this tapestry.

A City Divided: Awe vs Anger

But not everyone is impressed. Some of Kolkata’s football legends, who shaped the city’s football culture long before Messi was a global icon, feel they’ve been forgotten.

Former India and Mohun Bagan midfielder Gautam Sarkar — the man who famously man-marked Pele in 1977 — didn’t hide his anger.

“These are nothing but gimmicks. Messi is coming only to do a handshake... Pele had come here and actually played with us.”

He also raised a question many have been whispering: Should India be pouring its resources into hosting a promotional tour when its own football ecosystem is floundering?

The ISL season is delayed, the AIFF has no commercial partner, and the future of Indian football remains unclear.

“Instead of bringing Messi, our focus should be on how to improve football in the country. We must give utmost priority to Indian football and bring back the glory of the past,” Sarkar said.

Former India defender Subrata Bhattacharya echoed the sentiment, saying he felt “insulted.”

Between Nostalgia and Reality

Messi’s tour is a spectacle — a Bollywood-meets-football roadshow featuring chief ministers, celebrities, industrialists and sports icons. It will give fans selfies, memories and Instagram highlights.

But it won’t give them sport.

It will revive nostalgia but not recreate the goosebumps of 2011.

For Kolkata, the city that believes football is a matter of faith, Messi’s presence — even without the ball at his feet — is still enough to stir the soul.

But for Indian football, the tour may also force uncomfortable questions about priorities, planning, and the future of the beautiful game in a country that once dreamed bigger.