India turn down chance to host world champions Argentina

The Indian audience would have received the opportunity to see the Argentina side play against India.

The international break has seen World Champions Argentina come to Asia and expand their global presence. The World Champions played Australia in Beijing on June 15 and were hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta on June 19.

Argentina had two slots to play friendlies during this window where they initially planned to play India and Bangladesh as a gesture to thank their massive fan following and the support that they had received during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

But, India trued down an exclusive chance to host arguably the greatest player on the planet Lionel Messi and team Argentina because of the huge costs involved in hosting them. 

The Secretary General of AIFF, Shaji Prabhakaran told TOI that the Argentine federation reached out to the AIFF but it wasn’t possible financially to host them without the backing of a strong partner. “The Argentina FA reached out to us for a friendly, but it was just not possible to arrange such huge sum. For such a match to happen here, we need the backing of a strong partner,” Prabhakaran told TOI on Monday.

The defending World Champions are the most demanded team across the globe after Lionel Messi completed football in the most beautiful way. The La Albiceleste commanded a very huge sum of $4-5 Million (Rs 32-40 Crores approximately). “The kind of money that Argentina commands is huge and we have limitations in terms of our economic situation in football,” said Prabhakaran.

Argentina left the chance to play in the United States during this window to expand and thank their global audience. The General Secretary also said that it would have been a mismatch if India who are currently ranked 101 in the FIFA rankings played against the World Champions who are ranked No. 1.

“There would have been too much mismatch if India played,” said Prabhakaran. 

Although Argentina have played in India before when Nicolas Otamendi's header from a Lionel Messi corner was the difference between Argentina and Venezuela at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata, it would have been a different feeling altogether if Argentina came this time around as world champions.