Could you imaging Lionel Messi playing at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (or the Salt Lake) in Kolkata? The Argentina national team, fresh from their World Cup win, taking on India in India?
It could have been a reality this month but for the Indian FA to turn the chance down. The fanfare in India for the Argentina national team, and especially Messi, is widely known and was highlighted during the 2022 World Cup.
Why did AIFF turn down a chance to play Argentina?
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) revealed that India turned down an opportunity to play an international friendly against Argentina during the international window in June.
The Argentina Football Association (AFA), approached the AIFF and wanted to schedule one of their two friendly matches against India in India but AIFF decline the request citing the huge cost that they would have incurred in hosting the reigning world champions.
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AIFF's secretary general Shaji Prabhakarantold Time of India,
The Argentina FA reached out to us for a friendly, but it was just not possible to arrange such a huge sum. For such a match to happen here, we need the backing of a strong partner. The kind of money that Argentina command (as appearance fee) is huge and we have limitations in terms of our economic situation in football.
There would have been too much of a mismatch if India played (Argentina).
Argentina generally demand an appearance fee of $4-5 million which is approximately Rs 32-40 crore.
The reigning World Cup champions reportedly passed on a chance to play friendlies in the USA as they wanted to tour South Asia. They were initially supposed to play matches against Bangladesh and India but as that did not materialise, they eventually played against China and Indonesia on June 15 and June 19 respectively.
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Argentina are currently ranked number 1 in the world in the latest FIFA rankings while India are ranked 99.
India recently won the Intercontinental Cup by beating Lebanon in the final in Bhubaneswar. They will now take part in the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru.