Sponsor mulls legal action if Argentina does not play in Kerala this year

The Reporter Broadcasting Company, the Kerala Government’s commercial partner for bringing the Argentina football team and its star Lionel Messi to Kerala, has said that it might be forced to take legal recourse if the World Cup champion does not play in the State in October or November.

Reporter, the sponsor for the team’s visit to Kerala, said it had paid the full amount of ₹130 crore to the Argentine Football Association (AFA) on June 6 this year as per the agreement signed in December 2024.

“As per the agreement, we had sent the full amount and they (AFA) also acknowledged it. But after five days, we received an email asking whether we are okay with having the match in September 2026,” said Anto Augustine, managing director of Reporter, on Tuesday.

“That violates the terms of the agreement we have with the AFA. We are not okay with it. As per our agreement with the AFA, the deal was to have the match in October-November this year. They had even told us that the match can be held in October and we had fulfilled all the terms as per the agreement.”

The next World Cup will be held in June-July 2026 in Canada, Mexico and the USA and Augustine feels the scene could be very different after the quadrennial event.

“We are interested in having the match only this year, as per the agreed terms. If the agreement is not honoured, there will be huge financial loss. So we may have to handle this legally,” he said.

Kerala Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman, who had announced that Argentina would play in Kerala in October, had told the media in Kozhikode on Monday that that the team would not visit Kerala this year. The minister explained that the team had difficulties in visiting the State in October.

However, Anto felt it was not proper to announce that Messi and Argentina would not be coming to Kerala till the AFA officially declares that the team would not playing in the State this year.