--- title: Afghan 'Plastic Bag Jersey' Boy to Meet Soccer Hero Messi description: Representatives of the Barcelona and Argentina national superstar Lionel Messi have reached out to set up a meeting with his biggest fan canonical: https://time.com/4203602/afghan-boy-plastic-bag-jersey-murtaza-ahmadi-lionel-messi-argentina-soccer-football/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-02T03:18:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:29:34.405Z article:section: Sports og:title: Afghan 'Plastic Bag Jersey' Boy to Meet Soccer Hero Messi og:description: "I love Messi and football," young Murtaza Ahmadi says. og:url: https://time.com/4203602/afghan-boy-plastic-bag-jersey-murtaza-ahmadi-lionel-messi-argentina-soccer-football/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd701538e32908a/69887bac196cf43a1e03a238/gettyimages-507859440.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FBL-AFG-ARG-ESP-AFGHANISTAN-SPORT-SOCIETY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Afghan 'Plastic Bag Jersey' Boy to Meet Soccer Hero Messi twitter:description: "I love Messi and football," young Murtaza Ahmadi says. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd701538e32908a/69887bac196cf43a1e03a238/gettyimages-507859440.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Afghan Boy Who Wore a Plastic Bag as a Soccer Jersey Will Meet Lionel Messi > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Feb 2, 2016 3:18 AM UTC  Afghan boy Murtaza Ahmadi, 5, a young Lionel Messi fan, plays soccer in Kabul on Feb. 1, 2016\. Barcelona star Messi is hoping to arrange a meeting with an Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of him dressed in a striped-plastic-bag jersey went viral Afghan boy Murtaza Ahmadi, 5, a young Lionel Messi fan, plays soccer in Kabul on Feb. 1, 2016\. Barcelona star Messi is hoping to arrange a meeting with an Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of him dressed in a striped-plastic-bag jersey went viralShah Marai—AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Feb 2, 2016 3:18 AM UTC The 5-year-old Afghan boy who became Internet famous last month — for a viral photo of him wearing an Argentina soccer jersey, improvised from a plastic bag, in honor of his hero Lionel Messi — will finally [get to meet](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/afghan-boy-messi-bag-shirt-excited-meeting-160201072656464.html) his idol. “I love Messi and football,” young Murtaza Ahmadi said in an interview with al-Jazeera on Monday. “I will meet him one day.” That day could come soon, with the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) confirming that representatives of the Barcelona and Argentine national player reached out to set up a meeting with his biggest fan. “We are doing our best to coordinate their meeting,” said AFF spokesman Syed Ali Kazemi. “The date and the venue is still not confirmed yet, but there are chances of Ahmadi flying to Spain to meet his idol.” Kazemi also added that the federation would do its best to ensure the young soccer fanatic’s passion earns him an eventual spot in the Afghan team. “We will do everything in our capacity to train him,” he said. Murtaza, who lives in war-torn Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, has seen forces of the universe — and the Internet — conspire to fulfill his dreams ever since he ran to his older brother Homayoun Ahmadi with a striped plastic bag not unlike the shirt Messi dons for the Argentina national side. “We can’t even imagine buying the original Messi jersey. We just can’t afford it,” Homayoun, 15, told al-Jazeera. “So, to make my brother happy, I made a shirt out of that plastic bag for him.” The photo Homayoun subsequently uploaded went viral, and it seems like Murtaza is about to get much more than just a jersey. \[[_Al-Jazeera_](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/afghan-boy-messi-bag-shirt-excited-meeting-160201072656464.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4203602/afghan-boy-plastic-bag-jersey-murtaza-ahmadi-lionel-messi-argentina-soccer-football/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4203602/afghan-boy-plastic-bag-jersey-murtaza-ahmadi-lionel-messi-argentina-soccer-football/"},"headline":"The Afghan Boy Who Wore a Plastic Bag as a Soccer Jersey Will Meet Lionel Messi","datePublished":"2016-02-02T03:18:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:29:34.405Z","description":"\"I love Messi,\" young Murtaza Ahmadi says","url":"https://time.com/4203602/afghan-boy-plastic-bag-jersey-murtaza-ahmadi-lionel-messi-argentina-soccer-football/","keywords":["Soccer","Newsfeed","Afghanistan","viral","Football","Argentina","Barcelona","Lionel Messi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd701538e32908a/69887bac196cf43a1e03a238/gettyimages-507859440.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fd701538e32908a/69887bac196cf43a1e03a238/gettyimages-507859440.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FBL-AFG-ARG-ESP-AFGHANISTAN-SPORT-SOCIETY","caption":"FBL-AFG-ARG-ESP-AFGHANISTAN-SPORT-SOCIETY","creditText":"Shah Marai—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/soccer/","name":"Soccer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4203602/afghan-boy-plastic-bag-jersey-murtaza-ahmadi-lionel-messi-argentina-soccer-football/","name":"The Afghan Boy Who Wore a Plastic Bag as a Soccer Jersey Will Meet Lionel Messi"}}]}] ```