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Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, better known as Rodri, is one of Spain’s biggest stars at the 2026 World Cup, not to mention, the team’s captain. By his side for many years has been his girlfriend, Laura Iglesias.
Like Rodri, Laura has no social media, so there’s little information on her online. However, it is confirmed that the two met while attending Universitat Jaume I in Castellon, in eastern Spain. “For me, it was the best time of my life. Spending time with young people the same as as you. Studying and going out sometimes. It was good… a great time,” he said in 2022. “It was funny because I met her [Laura] in the student residence and she was starting also on medicine.” Laura is two years younger than Rodri.
As his career began taking off, she supported him. “A girl who studied so hard, who was doing Medicine… that helped me a lot to take away some of the pressure of what I was facing every weekend—playing in the First Division, beginning to become important, starting to play for Spain,” Rodi said (translated from Spanish). “She has helped me a lot.”
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The couple in 2024.
He continued, “She was like ‘what is this guy doing here?’ And I met her when I was in the U21 side of Villarreal and it was kind of like this when I start moving forward in professional football, she was a bit shy in this sense because she didn’t want the people to speak. You know how it’s like, there was like 400 students in the same [place].”
When he won the Ballon D’Or in 2024, he said, “First of all, I would like to thank the most important person in the world for me—my girlfriend Laura. Today marks eight years since we met—it’s our anniversary [November 23]. Without you, this journey would not have been the same, so thank you very much.”
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Iglesias during a Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC at Etihad Stadium on November 23, 2024.
It’s unclear if Laura has continued to pursue a career in medicine since they graduated, but some papers report she is training to become a surgeon. She rarely attends his matches in person; in a video for Manchester City, Rodri said, “When I get to score, I always have a video of Laura celebrating the goal at home and I always watch it in a locker room.”
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Deputy Digital Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms.