Overview
- Organizers say Messi will follow Saturday's Salt Lake Stadium ceremony from his hotel for security reasons, with attendance projected at around 70,000.
- The tour itinerary runs Kolkata → Hyderabad → Mumbai → New Delhi, featuring a 7v7 celebrity GOAT Cup at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and concerts and fan events.
- Messi is expected to be joined by Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suárez, with Mumbai programming to include a fashion charity show and additional sponsor engagements.
- The statue, depicting Messi lifting the World Cup, was led by sculptor Monti (Monty) Paul and assembled by roughly 45 artisans over 27–40 days using iron and fiberglass.
- After its stadium debut, the work will stand in Kolkata’s Lake Town near an existing Diego Maradona statue, a project backed by Sree Bhumi Sporting Club and state officials, with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi planned in New Delhi.