What Are WAGs? Meet the Wives and Girlfriends of the 2022 World Cup Players
The soccer players at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will not be the only ones generating headlines over the coming weeks, so will their better halves.
Known as WAGs, the wives and girlfriends of professional athletes can often attract just as much attention as what is happening on the pitch.
The term was first coined during the 2006 World Cup in Germany to describe England's WAGs, including David Beckham's wife, Victoria, and British pop star Cheryl, who was married to Ashley Cole at the time.
Other famous sporting WAGs over the years have included: La La Anthony (wife of Carmelo); Gisele Bündchen (who divorced Tom Brady in October 2022); Ciara (Russell Wilson); Ayesha Curry (Stephen Curry); Hilary Duff (Mike Comrie); Kendall Jenner (Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons and Devin Booker); Khloé Kardashian (Lamar Odom); Carrie Underwood (Mike Fisher); and Irina Shayk (Cristiano Ronaldo).
Here, we took a look at some of the WAGs attending 2022's World Cup in Qatar.
Georgina Rodriguez, 28
As the girlfriend of one of the most famous players at the World Cup, all eyes will be on the model as she cheers on her man, Cristiano Ronaldo, 37.
The Portuguese player is arguably one of the greatest in the history of the game.
Rodriguez is mother to two of Ronaldo's six children, but in April 2022, they lost one of their infant twins during childbirth.
The Argentine-born model boasts 30 million Instagram followers.
Sasha Attwood, 25
Manchester City and England player Jack Grealish's childhood girlfriend is staying aboard the luxury ship, MSC World Europa, along with the other footballers' families.
The model has seen her career rise and signed a lucrative contract in 2022 with cosmetics company L'Oreal.
Antonela Roccuzzo, 34
Married to Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain ace Lionel Messi, 35, since 2017, Roccuzzo first trained as a dentist before becoming a model.
The pair wed more than 20 years after meeting in their home town of Rosario, Sante Fe, in Argentina, and they have been in a relationship since 2008.
They are parents to sons Thiago, Mateo and Ciro.
Annekee Molenaar, 24
The model moved to Germany when her soccer-player boyfriend, Matthijs de Ligt, 23, was signed up by the Bayern Munich team. Both hailing from the Netherlands, they met in 2018.
Molenaar has been very open about her struggles with body image.
"I am not [happy] all the time and that's OK. I am human who is still learning not to set the bar too high. This is why I am now sharing this message in order to create a little bit more connection between me and you," she wrote on Instagram.
Rafaella Szabo, 34
A photographer by trade, Szabo married the Atlético Madrid and Belgium national team player, 33, in 2015.
They are parents to three children.
Raiane Lima, 21
The social-media influencer and the Arsenal and Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus, 25, were first spotted together boarding a private jet in 2021.
They at first kept their relationship private, but Lima went public after having to deny she was dating a married state politician, Rodrigo Novaes, in their native Brazil.
"I just want to clear up a few things that gossip sites have been saying. First of all I'm 20 and have been over-age for some time now," she wrote on Instagram at the time.
"Second I was not dating anyone when I got to know Gabriel. Today we are in a relationship, yes, but that's something that only concerns us," Lima added.
"We are single, free and anything else said other than that is gossip and cruelty."
The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Helena, in May 2022.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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