Kolkata sings for Messi as World Cup fever takes hold
About 300 Argentine fans gathered early in the morning at a Kolkata park to watch the World Cup match between Argentina and Cape Verde, displaying passionate support for Lionel Messi.
Fan gathering
At 5:45am on Saturday, July 4, about 300 football fans gathered under a grey sky in Amartya Sen Udyan, a small park in Kolkata, West Bengal, to watch the World Cup match between defending champions Argentina and underdogs Cape Verde. The area was decorated with blue-and-white flags, plastic footballs, and life-size cutouts of Argentina players, with many featuring Messi. This unofficial home of the Kolkata Argentina Football Fan Club, the largest of many fan clubs in the city dedicated to Argentina, reaches peak passion during the World Cup.
Rain had been falling all night, leaving the ground wet, but dawn revealed the crowd of blue-and-white believers who had been there since 3:30am when the match began.
Match moment
The game went into extra time, which few expected. Suddenly, Argentine defender Lisandro Martinez struck a left-footed shot into the net, causing fans to erupt. They filmed themselves punching the air, screaming, and high-fiving. Slowly, the chant “MAY-SI!” began to rise, echoing around the world.
Messi phenomenon
Messi, who recently turned 39, was playing alongside other greats his age: Luka Modric, Manuel Neuer, and Cristiano Ronaldo. But to Kolkata’s football mind, Messi in 2026 is in a league of his own – a Zen master of space and time. Despite being an underdog against teams like France or Spain, he scored all six goals that took Argentina through the group stage and crucial goals in later rounds.
Debjoy Biswas, a sports photographer from Kolkata who returned from Argentina’s group matches in North America, said: “On TV, you see his on-the-ball movement, but live you see what he does off the ball – his anticipation, awareness of space. It’s the closest I’ve come to footballing heaven.”
Fan stories
Shib Sankar Patra, a tea shop owner, is a huge Messi fan. His wife Sapna said that after her husband was chosen to meet Messi when he visited Kolkata last year, he now considers him a brother. The facade of their home is painted in blue-and-white stripes, and an Argentina flag flies outside. The family celebrated Messi’s 39th birthday by cutting an 18kg cake and giving away free Argentina jerseys to children.
Football history in Kolkata
In love with football since the 1890s, Kolkata is arguably the greatest football city never represented at a World Cup by a national team. This lends fandom a distinctive intensity. The Durand Cup, the third-oldest football tournament in the world, was inaugurated in 1888. Major Indian clubs like Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting, and East Bengal were all born in Kolkata. Indian football evolved with an independent style; players often played barefoot for better ball control, possibly explaining the love for "la joga bonito" – the beautiful game with creativity and dribbling.
