Football fans in southern India have reason to celebrate as Lionel Messi’s GOAT Tour to India 2025 will now include Hyderabad after the cancellation of the Kochi leg. This change ensures that the southern region also gets a chance to witness the football legend in action.
Organizer Satadru Dutta confirmed the update, saying that the goal was to make the tour a truly national celebration. With Hyderabad joining Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, the tour will now cover all four regions of India.
The Hyderabad event will include a celebrity football match, a musical show, a football clinic and a felicitation ceremony featuring leading stars from southern cinema.
Messi is expected to arrive in India around December 12 or early December 13 after a short stay in Dubai. The schedule begins in Kolkata on December 13, continues to Hyderabad the same evening, then to Mumbai on December 14 and ends in Delhi on December 15, where Messi is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Organizers are considering Gachibowli Stadium or Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium for the Hyderabad match, with ticket sales expected to start within a week.
Messi will be joined by his teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul. Tickets for Mumbai are already sold out, while Kolkata and Delhi are nearly full. Dutta said that Hyderabad will bring unmatched energy and could become one of the most memorable stops of the entire tour.
