Delhi is preparing to welcome football icon Lionel Messi at a sold-out event at Arun Jaitley Stadium. It will be his first public appearance in the capital.
After a debated Kolkata start and successful shows in Hyderabad and Mumbai, attention now shifts to Delhi. Messi joins Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul for an exhibition and a felicitation. He was likely to have a private meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but PM Modi has left for his trip to Jordan.
Lionel Messi is set to arrive in Delhi on the morning of 15 December 2025, straight after completing his GOAT India Tour event in Mumbai.
Messi was expected to have a private meet and greet with PM Modi. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was reportedly supposed to be present. Reports also suggested that the meeting could include the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief Justice of India. However, it is unclear now if this meeting will take place.
Multiple schedules have emerged for Lionel Messi’s tentative programme in New Delhi as part of the GOAT India Tour. According to one schedule, Messi is expected to arrive in New Delhi at around 10:45 AM, followed by a short meet-and-greet at a city hotel.
Meetings with other VVIPs, including the Chief Justice of India and the Chief of Defence Staff, are planned in the afternoon.
The public event at Arun Jaitley Stadium is scheduled to begin at 1:30 PM, with the main programme starting around 2:30 PM.
Messi is expected to enter the field at 3:30 PM, followed by a children’s football clinic and a felicitation ceremony, before departing in the late afternoon.
However, another source states that Messi will arrive in Delhi between 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM via a charter flight from Mumbai. There will be a quick transfer to his hotel.
This schedule places the courtesy meeting with the prime minister later, between 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM. According to this schedule, stadium gates will open at 5:00 PM.
The main GOAT event and exhibition show will run from 7 PM to 9:30 PM, followed by private engagements. Messi’s departure from India is expected late at night or early on 16 December.
While the timings seem tentative, the events are broadly the same. There is no official schedule released by the organisers.
Messi at Arun Jaitley Stadium
According to Khel Now, the gates at Arun Jaitley Stadium will open to the public at 11:30 AM, while the event is scheduled to take place between 1:30 PM and 5 PM.
The event will start at 2.30 PM, with a celebrity football match scheduled at 2.50 PM. At 3.30 PM, Messi will attend the celebrity match and have a football masterclass with 30 kids from Minerva Academy. The stage ceremony is scheduled to start at 4:20 PM, according to the publication.
The Argentine star is expected to meet Virat Kohli at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. This meeting follows his interaction with Sachin Tendulkar at the Cricket Club of India.
