Two Argentina Games in China Canceled Amid Row Over Lionel Messi

Two Argentina matches that had been scheduled to take place in China in March have been canceled amid a row involving Lionel Messi.

Argentina had been due to face Nigeria in Hangzhou and then Ivory Coast in Beijing.

Messi is the Argentina captain and event promoters had used the 36-year-old's likely participation as a major selling point.

However, Chinese officials were recently angered when Messi did not feature for Inter Miami in an exhibition game against a Hong Kong Premier League XI.

Messi's absence was officially due to a hamstring injury but he was then ruled fit to make a 30-minute cameo for Miami in a game against Vissel Kobe in Japan three days later.

Seventy-two hours on from that match in Japan, the Beijing Football Association and the Hangzhou sports bureau announced that the Argentina matches in March will no longer be taking place in China, as things stand.

"Beijing does not plan, for the moment, to organize the match in which Lionel Messi was to participate," read a statement from the Beijing FA.

The Hangzhou sports bureau said: "Given the reasons that everyone knows, according to the competent authorities, the conditions for the event to take place are not met."

Lionel Messi will not play in China in March after Argentina's games against Nigeria and Ivory Coast were canceled

IMAGO/ZUMA/Florencia Tan Jun