Thiruvananthapuram: Nearly ₹13 lakh was spent from the state treasury for Kerala Sports Minister V Abdurahiman’s trip to Spain in 2024, contradicting his earlier claims that no government funds were used to invite football legend Lionel Messi to Kerala.

Documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act reveal that the state bore the expenses for the September 2024 trip, which included the minister, the Sports Department Secretary, and the Director of Sports and Youth Affairs. The visit, pitched as part of efforts to bring Messi and the Argentine national team to Kerala, has now come under scrutiny following the minister’s recent confirmation that Messi will not be visiting the state this year.

The revelation stands in stark contrast to Minister Abdurahiman’s previous assertion that “not even a single rupee” from the government was spent to facilitate Messi’s arrival. To make matters worse, reports indicate that the minister failed to meet either Lionel Messi or any senior official from the Argentine Football Association (AFA) during the visit.

Back in 2024, the minister had made headlines after announcing that Messi and the Argentine team would visit Kerala in October 2025. He said the visit would include a friendly match and discussions about launching a football academy in the state, claiming that talks had already been held with AFA. The estimated budget for the ambitious project was ₹100 crore.

In November 2024, the minister went a step further, announcing the confirmed dates of the team’s arrival. The Kerala government even issued an order in December designating Reporter Broadcasting Company as the official sponsor of the event.

But trouble began when Argentine journalists reported that the team had changed its international tour itinerary due to non-payment of sponsorship fees. According to reports, despite repeated reminders, the sponsors failed to fulfil their financial commitments on time. The Kerala government eventually issued two breach-of-contract notices to Reporter Broadcasting Company. Although the payments were eventually made, it was already too late — Argentina had confirmed its matches in China, Qatar and Angola.

Even after the change in Argentina’s schedule, the sponsors continued to claim that the team would arrive in Kerala as promised. However, Minister Abdurahiman has now officially admitted that the team will not be coming to Kerala this October.

The minister also cited ‘conflicting positions’ between the sponsors and the Argentine Football Association. While AFA communicated its inability to participate in an October event, the sponsors maintained that they were only interested in backing the event if the team arrived during that period.