Lionel Messi set to visit the ‘City of Nizams’, Hyderabad, in the G.O.A.T tour replacing Ahmedabad

South Indian fans gear up as Lionel Messi is set to visit Hyderabad, replacing Ahmedabad in the 2025 GOAT tour.  (Image credits - Heute, Licence Details)

The excitement surrounding Lionel Messi stepping his foot on Indian soil in December at the much-anticipated ‘GOAT tour’ just got higher as Hyderabad has replaced Ahmedabad so that the people of South India can also fulfil their dream of witnessing the little magician in front of their eyes.

This decision has been made as compensation for Argentina's cancellation of a proposed friendly game in Kochi, which was already announced by the Sports Minister to be scheduled on November 17. 

The southern part of India also recently missed out on witnessing Cristiano Ronaldo playing in Indian soil, as the Portuguese star did not travel with the Al Nassr squad for the clash against FC Goa

Lionel Messi is now set to visit all four corners of India – Kolkata in the east, Mumbai in the west, New Delhi in the north and Hyderabad in the south. This is set to be one of the biggest events hosted in India, as millions of football lovers are expected to fill the galleries to watch one of the greatest football players right in front of their eyes.

Satadru Dutta, the organiser of this event happily shared this update, saying,

"Now we are covering the south also. This will be a tribute to millions of football fans in South India. With this, every part of India is covered. The west is covered through Mumbai, the east through Kolkata, and the north through Delhi. There is a huge Messi fan base in Chennai, Kerala and Hyderabad.” (sic)

He further added, "I wanted to make it a pan-India event, and now that the Kerala event is cancelled, people in the south are getting deprived of seeing Messi. The south should also get an exposure of Messi, so people from the south can travel to Hyderabad and watch him." (sic)

The event has been confirmed officially and is set to be held in the Gachibowli stadium or the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium. Booking of the tickets will go live soon next week. As the Ahmedabad event has been replaced by Hyderabad, the event sponsors of the former will now be held in Mumbai.

Lionel Messi is set to land around midnight on December 13th from a flight scheduled from Miami via Dubai, where he is set to rest for a couple of days before arriving at Kolkata. He will be accompanied by his teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul, along with former teammates including Deco and Dani Alves. The GOAT tour will feature celebrity exhibition matches with stars like M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Shah Rukh Khan; music concerts; and felicitation ceremonies across the four cities, which will eventually pay tribute to the greatest of all time and let the millions of Indian football fans cherish him in their soil.

Messi will start the tour with Kolkata on December 13th, followed by Hyderabad on the same evening and Mumbai on the 14th, and conclude his tour on December 15th, where he is set to meet with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

Dutta enthusiastically said, “The Hyderabad event will be designed to showcase the passion of South Indian fans. It's going to be huge. The energy in Hyderabad is special, and with all the southern stars coming together, it will be one of the most memorable legs of the tour.” (sic)