Spain’s midfield duo Fabian Ruiz and Gavi have added an unusual, homegrown twist to their World Cup celebrations, returning to their shared hometown to be honoured with their own body weight in tomatoes. The gesture, a quirky but deeply cherished local tradition, was the town’s way of welcoming home two of its own after they helped Spain lift the World Cup trophy for a second time in sixteen years.
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in Sunday’s final to be crowned World Cup champions, a result that sent the entire country into raptures. Few celebrations, however, have captured the imagination quite like the one that unfolded this week in Los Palacios y Villafranca, the small Andalusian town both players call home. On Tuesday, Ruiz and Gavi were paraded through the streets before being presented with crates of ripe, red tomatoes stacked high enough to match their own weight.
Gavi, who weighs around 68 kilograms, and Ruiz, who tips the scales at roughly 84 kilograms, each received tomatoes equal to those figures, bringing the combined total to 150kg. It is a tribute that sounds strange to outsiders but carries real weight, quite literally, in a town that has learned to mark football glory in the most agricultural way possible.
The custom traces back to Spain’s first World Cup triumph in 2010, when Jesus Navas, another product of Los Palacios y Villafranca, became the first local player to be feted with his weight in tomatoes after that historic win. Navas, who went on to enjoy a long career with Sevilla and the national team, is widely credited with starting the tradition that has since become the town’s signature way of honouring its World Cup heroes.
Navas himself was celebrated again after Spain’s Euro 2012 success, while Ruiz received the same tomato tribute following Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph. This latest World Cup win, though, marks the first time two players from the same hometown have been honoured together, a detail that has only added to the excitement in Los Palacios y Villafranca.
Alongside the tomatoes, the two World Cup winners were presented with banners featuring Tomatito, the beloved mascot of the 1982 World Cup that Spain hosted. Local football grounds were also renamed in their honour, now standing as the Fabian Ruiz Football Field and the Pablo Martin Paez Gavira Football Field, using Gavi’s full birth name.
For a town of modest size, seeing two of its own lift the World Cup and then return home to be celebrated in such a personal, tomato-soaked fashion has been a source of enormous pride. Fans lined the streets, waving flags and chanting the players’ names as the tomato crates were unloaded, turning what could have been a simple ceremony into one of the most talked-about moments of Spain’s World Cup victory tour.
As Spain’s players continue their celebrations across the country following their World Cup success, the tomato tribute in Los Palacios y Villafranca stands out as a reminder that not every reward for World Cup glory has to be a medal or a bonus cheque. Sometimes, it can be measured in kilograms of tomatoes, gifted with love by the people who knew these champions long before the world did.
