Most World Cup winners get a parade. Fabian Ruiz and Gavi got tomatoes — literally. The two Seville-born midfielders were honored Tuesday in Los Palacios y Villafranca with one of the region's quirkiest traditions: being presented with their own body weight in the local crop.
Ruiz tipped the scales at 85 kg, Gavi at 68.5 kg. That's a combined 153.5 kilograms of tomatoes handed over at the town hall in a province that takes its fruit very seriously. As ceremonies go, it's wonderfully absurd — and completely earned.
What they actually did in the tournament
The tomato haul is fun, but the footballing credentials behind it are real. Ruiz, 30, logged 366 minutes across the tournament for Spain and scored the opener in their 2-1 quarterfinal win over Belgium. That's a decisive goal at a stage where the margins are everything. The PSG man had a genuine tournament.
Gavi's involvement was more limited — 85 minutes of action — but at 21, he's been part of a Spain side that has now won a World Cup and the 2023 UEFA Nations League together. The Barcelona midfielder's best tournaments are still ahead of him, which is a genuinely unnerving thought for the rest of Europe.
The pair joined teammates for a parade in Madrid on Monday before heading home to Seville for the local honors. Spain, as a squad, will also receive $51 million in prize money and become the first World Cup-winning team to be presented with championship rings — the specifics of which will be confirmed later.
Monuments, renamed fields, and what comes next
The town isn't stopping at tomatoes. Local officials announced that two municipal grass pitches will be renamed after Ruiz and Gavi respectively — the full name on Gavi's reads "Pablo Páez Gavira 'Gavi' Football Field," which is quite the nameplate to put on a changing room door.
- Fabian Ruiz Football Field
- Pablo Páez Gavira 'Gavi' Football Field
A monument is also planned to honor all three local World Cup winners — Ruiz, Gavi, and Jesús Navas, who lifted the trophy with Spain back in 2010. For a relatively small Seville province town, producing three World Cup winners across two generations is a genuinely extraordinary footballing record.
Navas is 39 and winding down. Ruiz is 30 and playing Champions League football at PSG. Gavi is 21 with a World Cup medal already in the cabinet. Los Palacios y Villafranca has a right to be pleased with itself.
