“Hero aaya, taaliyan baji, aur picture wahi ki wahi reh gayi.”
For four days, India looked like a football nation again.
Stadiums were full. Phones were up. Social media was buzzing with awe and disbelief. When Lionel Messi arrived, the country leaned forward together, starstruck, emotional, eager to be part of something rare. For once, Indian football did not have to justify its existence.
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And then he left.
The cheers died down quickly. What followed was a silence Indian football knows all too well, made heavier because it came right after spectacle. Messi's visit exploded a football hype in India. (PTI Photo)
Because even as Messi departed with warmth and goodwill, the sport he represents here stayed frozen. The Indian Super League (ISL) still does not have a season.
When a Season Disappears
What makes this moment unsettling is not only the uncertainty. It is the time already gone.
We are past the middle of December 2025. The year is almost done. Not only has the league season not started yet, there is no clarity about if the competition will even happen this time around. The newly-elected officials of the All India Football Federation, which came in with lots of promises, have failed to deliver on all counts. Not only is there no league, there are no takers for a league as well.
Kudos, Nikhil Naz, for exposing the farce that was Lionel Messi's I
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