Hyderabad: As fans across Hyderabad settled in for the World Cup final, bar and cafe owners had one more instruction to follow: play a video of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy playing football with the Argentina star Lionel Messi before kickoff and at halftime.
Owners of two cafes in Hyderabad, Monastery located in Knowledge City and Fat Pigeon located in Jubilee Hills, confirmed to Siasat.com that they had been directed by officials to show the video as a gesture of gratitude for permitting them to be open until late hours of the night to broadcast the FIFA World Cup final.
“Yes, we played the video during the broadcast as per directions received,” said an official at Monastery. However, another bar in Knowledge City denied receiving any such instructions but said it played the video nonetheless. “We did not receive any instructions as such, but we played the video for the fans watching the match,” a representative of the establishment told Siasat.com.
The office of the Chief Minister and the Prohibition and Excise Department have not yet reacted to the reports.
Screenshots that surfaced on social media show a chain of WhatsApp messages beginning with a one-minute video, timestamped at 9:59 pm, featuring CM Revanth Reddy in a red-and-white sports jersey on a football field. The clip was from the friendly football match he played with Lionel Messi during the Argentine star’s visit to Hyderabad in December 2025.
At 10 pm, a message states that all bar licensees should play the video before the start of the match and in the middle of the match.
What follows is a forwarded message, addressed to District Prohibition and Excise Officers, Station House Officers, Prohibition and Excise Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors of the Cyberabad division, asking them to communicate the video to bar licensees and ensure it is played before the start of the World Cup final match and at halftime. The message also directs officials to obtain video clips from bar licensees confirming compliance “without fail.”
The instructions follow the state government’s decision to let bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and microbreweries in Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Serilingampally remain open into the early hours for the final between Argentina and Spain. The Prohibition and Excise Department order permitted licensed establishments in the core urban region to operate until 4:30 am for the third-place playoff and till 3:00 am for the final.
The identity of the person who sent the message chain initially could not be independently verified by Siasat.com.
Revanth Reddy has repeatedly tied the late-night exemption to his own football interests, recalling a friendly match he played with Lionel Messi during the Argentine star’s Hyderabad stop on the GOAT India Tour in December 2025.
In a post on X ahead of the final, he said he was confident the Indian football team would one day play in and host a World Cup, and that future stars would come from Telangana.
If the directive is confirmed as originating from within the excise or police departments, it would prompt many questions about using administrative mechanisms for promoting the image of the Chief Minister alongside a routine relaxation.
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