A controversy broke out this Thursday in Colombia because the creative James Rodriguez, captain of the Colombian national team in the 2026 World Cup, allegedly denied a photo to Antonella, the youngest daughter of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who presented the national flag to the team today.
During the event, to which the press did not have access and which was announced at the last minute, the Colombian players went up on a stage to receive a sombrero vueltiao given to them by President Petro, in an act in which most of the players made long faces.
Next to Petro was Antonella, who when she greeted Rodriguez, 34, asked for a photo of the former Real Madrid player, who continued to greet the rest of the people on the stage and apparently ignored her.
The fact did not go unnoticed and in the social network X, for example, the second and third trends are Antonella and James Rodriguez, respectively.
“Antonella is a girl who likes soccer, her passion for seeing off the national team was genuine, they didn’t have to be bastards,” said Bogota councilwoman Heidy Sanchez, of the ruling Historic Pact party, referring to the players’ reluctant greeting of President Petro and his entourage.
The lobbyist added: “James Rodriguez, so macho with a little girl, but so cowardly and shouty on the court, you are also a father and I am sure you would never want your daughter to go through such a horrible rude behavior”.
James Rodriguez denied a photo to President Gustavo Petro’s daughter
During the meeting, in which the Colombian coach, Néstor Lorenzo, presented the president with a team jersey signed by all the players and a tri-round ball, like the ones that will be used in the World Cup, several of the players looked uncomfortable and unsmiling.
Even in the official photo, James, who is the team’s captain, was at the back. The flag, meanwhile, was carried by president Petro, winger Luis Díaz, creative Jorge Carrascal and midfielder Jhon Arias.
The image contrasts with another taken after the event, in which the players are all smiles on the stairs of the plane taking them to San Diego, where they will play their last friendly before the World Cup against Jordan on Sunday.
Petro, for his part, published two photos on his social networks: one showing Antonella giving a gift to the creative Juan Fernando Quintero, winger Daniel Muñoz and midfielder Jefferson Lerma, and another in which the president appears hugging his daughter at the event.
At the event, both Petro and his daughter wore Colombian national team jerseys hours after a Bogotá judge ordered far-right presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella and his movement, Defensores de la Patria, to refrain from using the Colombian national team jersey in campaign events and advertising while he studies a tutela action filed by a citizen.
The provisional measure was adopted by a tutela filed by Wilman Ramiro Bocanegra Calderón, who requested that De la Espriella and his party be ordered to cease the use of the jersey and other symbols of the national team as elements of the campaign to protect, among others, “the right to equality, non-discrimination, the right to elect and be elected”.
“Unleashed some using the judiciary to influence the electoral process. Here it seems that the only ones who can wear the shirt of the Colombian National Team are Petro and his comrades in the government,” said right-wing senator María Fernanda Cabal in X.
The congresswoman added: “The national team jersey is not for the exclusive use of anyone, and no judge of the Republic can prevent the free expression and free development of each person’s personality. This is not a dictatorship like the one Petro and Cepeda want,” reported Agencia EFE.
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