Costly Deal Sealed: India Pays ₹130 Crore to Host Argentina Football Team in November

There were rumors for a long time. However, along the path of uncertainty and tension, a difficult situation like a legal battle arose at one point. For now, everything has come to an end. Argentina has agreed to tour India. The world champions will play a match in the country next November. However, India has to spend a large amount of money for this.

The match will be held in Kerala as per the previous announcement. However, the opponent has not been finalized yet. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) said on Friday that they will play two matches in the November FIFA window. One in India, the other in Luanda, Angola. However, this is not the first time, Argentina had visited India in 2011. At that time, Messi played a friendly match against Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

Argentina has to pay a total of 130 crore rupees to bring it. In Bangladeshi currency, which is about 181 crore taka. The uncertainty about Argentina’s tour of India was mainly due to the complications created over the payment of this money. However, the final announcement has come after all the clouds of fear have been lifted.

The talk of Argentina’s tour of India this time was sparked by the outpouring of support from the subcontinent for Argentina during the 2022 World Cup. The Argentina national team’s social media page also posted a message of gratitude, saying, “Thank you Bangladesh, thank you Kerala, India, thank you Pakistan… Your support has been incredible.”

A few days later, Kerala Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman sent a formal invitation to the AFA president for the Argentine team to play in Kerala. After various processes along the way, the Sports Minister announced in November that the Argentine football team was indeed coming to Kerala.

In search of a sponsor, the Kerala government entered into an agreement with the broadcasting company ‘Reporter’. They completed the main process of the agreement with the AFA. However, a few days ago, uncertainty arose about the tour. The AFA’s chief commercial and marketing officer accused the Kerala government of violating the terms of the agreement. This delayed the tour.

However, on August 5, Anto Augustine, managing director of the Reporter Broadcasting Company, said that their agreement with the AFA had been finalized and the entire amount of Rs 130 crore had been paid on June 6. He also announced that legal action would be taken against the AFA if it did not tour India by this year. Then came the final announcement.

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