They are who I want to be when I grow up. The world knows their husbands, when you hear Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi you know exactly who they are. However, the names Georgina Rodriguez and Antonella Roccuzza are almost as recognizable these days.
Many consider Georgina and Antonella some of the luckiest women alive, but how did they fall in love with the world’s two best football players?
Georgina Rodriguez is an Argentine-born girl, who grew up in Spain. One day she decided to pick up and leave her small town Jaca, to work in Madrid. Because of her love for fashion at a young age, she got a job at a Gucci store. As someone who also has a love for fashion and moved to a big city, this already sounds like a dream, yet little did she know she was in for the plot twist of a lifetime. While Christiano was playing for Real Madrid in 2016 he walked into said Gucci store on a day she wasn’t even supposed to be working and the rest is history.
For Messi and Antonella it was different. They’re both from Rosario, Argentina, and always grew up around one another. A lot of people would consider them childhood sweethearts as Antonella’s cousin, who was also Messi’s teammate, introduced them at a very young age. And since everyone, including world-famous football players, deserves a happy ending, the two got married in 2017.
Besides following their husbands around on private jets, the two ultimate WAGS have many other tasks of their own. They get to be mothers to their beautiful children. Georgina has talked about how out of anything in the world being a mom is her favorite thing to do.
In 2022, Soy Georgina premiered on Netflix. Her show follows her around shoots, red carpets, fittings, and much more. I loved watching, while I’m not a millionaire football girlfriend, I liked that I could relate to her, and the hardships she talked about on the show. I love her philanthropic work and think using such a big platform for a good cause is very important.
Antonella also dedicates a lot of time to her philanthropic work, and she focuses a lot on her hometown of Rosario Argentina. Seeing them both dedicate so much time is inspiring, as a fellow Latina, I aspire to have a similar type of positive impact and represent my roots as they do. A lot of the time I feel like people perceive the wife of an athlete, as a cheerleader. But following these two women really shows they’re more than Messi and Christiano’s partners. They’re their own people who despite having the eyes of the world on them, remain humble and support their families, partners, and own careers. When I think of them I think of the quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, “The man is the head of the house, but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any way she wants.” It goes to show that even behind the greatest athletes in the world, they go so far because of supportive women in their lives.