Barcelona’s Messi to Meet 5-Year-Old Afghan Fan

Murtaza Ahmadi dancing in his makeshift shirt.

Ankara, 23 Rabiul Akhir 1437/2 February 2016 (MINA) – The Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) has announced that international football sensation Lionel Messi would meet Murtaza Ahmadi, a five-year-old Afghan fan whose photo wearing a homemade Messi jersey recently went viral on social media.

The jersey, which was fashioned by the boy’s 15-year-old brother Homayoun from a blue-and-white striped plastic bag, bears the word “MESSI” and the number “10” written in marker, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) reported, quoting Anadolu.

“The AFF has contacted Lionel Messi, the world football star, and it will soon arrange Messi’s meeting with Murtaza,” read a statement issued by the federation.

On Monday, Messi confirmed the news on his Twitter account, writing: “Afghanistan Football Federation has confirmed that Messi will meet his 5-year-old fan Murtaza at Camp Nou [in Barcelona].”

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AFF spokesman Sayed Ali Kazemi told Qatari news agency Al Jazeera earlier that the federation had been contacted by Messi’s management team “and expressed interest in meeting the boy”.

On plasic “Messi” jersey, Murtaza’s father, Arif Ahmadi, admitted the family could not afford to buy him a proper football jersey.

The “simple farmer” said he had nothing more than a punctured ball to play with. So instead, Murtaza’s elder brother used a blue and white plastic bag to fashion a jersey out for him, just so he could be like his idol.

Ahmadi lives in the Jaghori district of Afghanistan’s eastern Ghazni province. (T/R07/R01)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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