Spain's princess embarrasses Torres with an unexpected question

Spain v Argentina: Final - FIFA World Cup 2026

Ferran Torres's promise comes back to the fore

Princess Leonor, daughter of King Felipe VI and heir to the Spanish throne, proved her close attention to every detail and footballing pledge, after she appeared in a light-hearted and spontaneous exchange with Spain forward Ferran Torres during the royal reception for the champions.

The reception followed Spain's crowning as World Cup champions for the second time in their history. Last Sunday evening they beat Argentina by a single unanswered goal, scored by Torres himself.

Celebrations of the second World Cup title still fill the Spanish streets, with the "La Roja" players touring the capital Madrid before wrapping things up at the usual official stops: the royal Zarzuela Palace and the seat of government at La Moncloa. Among the many moments the cameras caught, one gesture bringing together the royal family and the scorer of the decisive winner against Argentina stole the attention on social media.

Once the clip went viral, followers wondered what had passed between the young princess and the Barcelona forward during the royal greeting. Some sarcastic speculation suggested she had paid the player a compliment. Replaying the audio revealed something else. Princess Leonor opened by asking Torres: "Weren't you going to shave off all your hair?", to which the forward quickly replied with a smile: "No, no!", according to the Spanish newspaper "Marca".

The gentle joke traces back to a public pledge the Valencia native had made to himself: he would "shave off all his hair" if Spain won the World Cup. It showed just how close the young princess is to the national team, and how well she keeps up with its behind-the-scenes news.

Torres may have decided against a new hairstyle, but plenty of his team-mates are gearing up to honour bold pledges of their own. Marc Cucurella, Álex Baena, Borja Iglesias and Yeremy Pino have decided to get a tattoo of coach Luis de la Fuente's face. Lamine Yamal promised to grow his beard and moustache for three full weeks and to raffle off 100 headphones to his fans, while Gavi and Pedri are preparing to dye their hair in extremely striking colours.