Football fever grips Kerala as fans erect giant cutouts of Lionel Messi, Ronaldo & Neymar

With just over a week remaining for the FIFA World Cup 2022 to begin in Qatar, football fever has gripped Indian fans, especially in the state of Kerala.

People of Kerala are known to be huge fans of football, and have now erected giant cutouts of some of the biggest players in the world on a local river.

Giant cutouts of Neymar, Ronaldo & Messi erected in Kerala river

As seen in the Tweet shared by FIFA.com below, football fans in Kerala have erected massive cutouts of star Brazil winger Neymar, five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo and seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi in a local river. This trend began with some of the local residents first erecting a giant cutout of Messi, who has confirmed that he would be taking part in his last FIFA World Cup later this year in Qatar.

As seen in the video below, the Argentina Fans Association of Pullavoor erected a 30 ft high and 8 ft wide cut-out of Messi on the Cherupuzha river that cost over Rs 20,000. Soon after the cutout of the Argentine international was unveiled in the river, fans of Neymar and Ronaldo also followed suit by planting similar cutouts of the Brazilian and Portuguese international in the river.

Brazil announce 26-member squad for FIFA World Cup

Brazil is one of the few major countries that have announced their squad for the FIFA World Cup 2022. Their 26-member squad includes some prominent names such as Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG's) Neymar and Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior and also includes some surprises such as that of 39-year-old Dani Alves. Their full squad list of 26 players is mentioned below:

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (Palmeiras)

Defenders: Dani Alves (no club), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Eder Milito (Real Madrid), Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Alex Telles (Sevilla), Bremer (Juventus).

Midfielders: Casemiro (Manchester United), Fred (Manchester United), Fabinho (Liverpool), Bruno Guimares (Newcastle), Lucas Paquet (West Ham), Everton Ribeiro (Flamengo).

Forwards: Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid), Richarlison (Tottenham), Raphinha (Barcelona), Antony (Manchester United), Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Pedro (Flamengo), Rodrygo (Real Madrid).

Meanwhile, other major countries such as Argentina and Portugal are yet to unveil the squads.