The Kerala government has received an inquiry report into the controversy over the proposed visit of Lionel Messi and the Argentina national football team to the state, Sports Minister O J Janeesh said on Monday.
The investigation was conducted by the Special Secretary of the Sports Department, who examined the official records and files related to the proposed visit. The findings have now been submitted to the government, which will decide on the next course of action.
Janeesh said the report was classified as confidential and therefore declined to discuss its contents. He said the government would examine the findings before taking an appropriate decision.
“The report has been submitted to the government in a highly confidential manner. I can divulge only this much at the moment. The government will take an appropriate decision on it and inform everyone,” he said.
The inquiry was ordered amid persistent questions from the media and football supporters over the failure of a high-profile proposal announced by the previous government to bring Messi and the Argentina team to Kerala.
“Football lovers had also demanded an inquiry. When we conducted necessary examinations, we felt that further investigation was required,” Janeesh said.
Officials also looked into whether the necessary rules and procedures governing the entry of international teams or players into India had been followed during the process.
Janeesh said the matter required consideration at a level beyond the Sports Department, which was why the report had been forwarded to the government for further examination.
Several media reports have suggested that the inquiry may have raised serious concerns, including questions over whether a definitive agreement was in place for the Argentina team’s proposed visit. The minister, however, refused to confirm or deny those reports, including claims relating to the financial aspects of the proposal.
The controversy originated during the tenure of former Sports Minister V Abdurahiman, who had publicly announced plans to host Messi and the Argentina side in Kerala.
Abdurahiman had previously said he travelled to Spain and held talks with representatives of Argentine football authorities regarding the proposed event. A sponsor involved with the project later claimed that it had spent approximately Rs 126 crore in connection with efforts to bring the team to the state.
The former minister had also told the Kerala Assembly last year that Messi would visit the state, claiming that the proposal had received the required approvals from the Union Sports Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
“Therefore, the claim that the Sports Department was unaware of the proceedings is completely false,” Abdurahiman said.
He continued to maintain that the Argentina team would arrive in Kerala and said the sponsor had already paid the match fee for the proposed friendly.
However, the planned visit eventually failed to take place, with Abdurahiman later stating that the Argentine side had cited difficulties in travelling to Kerala at the proposed time.
Janeesh, meanwhile, said the government’s sporting ambitions extend beyond simply bringing an international superstar to the state. He said the objective was to create the conditions to produce “many Messis” by investing in football development and nurturing young talent in Kerala.
Abdurahiman has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and defended the previous government’s handling of the proposal.
In a detailed response, he said the Kerala government did not incur any financial loss from the proposed event and insisted that not a single rupee of public money was lost.
According to Abdurahiman, the agreement was directly between the Argentina Football Association (AFA) and the private sponsor, meaning the state government did not assume any financial liability for the proposed match.
He also claimed that the initiative was pursued after the necessary clearances had been obtained from the Union Sports and Finance Ministries. The sponsor, he said, had separately received RBI approval to transfer the required payment to the AFA.
Abdurahiman said the payment was made through a public sector bank and argued that the approvals required from various Union ministries could only be secured after an application was submitted by the Secretary of Kerala’s Sports Department.
He further claimed that the Argentina team had shown an interest in playing a friendly in Kerala after receiving an invitation from the state government.
According to the former minister, two organisations initially approached the government with proposals to sponsor the event. The first sponsor selected for the project subsequently failed to fulfil the prescribed conditions, following which Reporter Broadcasting Company was chosen and entered into an agreement with the AFA.
Abdurahiman also maintained that football associations and other sporting organisations in foreign countries operate as private entities. He argued that it would therefore not have been appropriate for the Kerala government to enter into a direct agreement with the AFA.
“That is why a private sponsor was brought in. AFA had also conveyed its preference for such an arrangement,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Youth League, the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), has called for an investigation by a central agency into the allegations.
CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan, however, dismissed the possibility of irregularities in the matter and said there was no scope for wrongdoing in the process.
Messi visited Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi last year during his tour of India.
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