Jota Peleteiro earned his living for many years on the football pitch, training in the youth ranks of Celta de Vigo and playing with the first team of the Galician club, as well as Eibar, Brentford, Aston Villa, Birmingham City or Alavés, where he would retire in 2021. His marriage to Jessica Bueno, between 2015 and 2022, also left notable headlines, including when the sparks of their separation flew.
But it is now, in 2024, that the former soccer player is the protagonist for a completely different reason. And, as different sources have confirmed, the native of Puebla del Caramiñal has converted to Islam. This has been made known by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas, which has published a heartfelt message of welcome to religion dedicated to the footballer. Everything indicates that the main reason for this decision would be his friend living in Kuwait, Faisal Buresli.
Peleteiro and Buresli met in the United States in 2013, and since then they have been close friends. At the beginning of last year, the former Celta player traveled to Kuwait and spent a few days at his teammate’s house, where he lived what he described as a “transformative experience.” The treatment received, the customs and traditions that he was able to experience in the Kuwaiti’s home led to his decision, which materialized last week.
“May Allah shower you with baraka and happiness. What a great blessing to return to your creator one month before the long-awaited Ramadan,” was one of the messages he received after learning the news in the media and social networks. A conversion to Islam that coincides with one of the busiest periods of his life after retiring from football. Currently, Peleteiro runs the agricultural company GroINN, which seeks to revolutionize the sector with the use of artificial intelligence.
One of his last interventions as CEO of GroINN led him to meet with the Ghanaian ambassador, Mohammed Habib, at a business meeting to expand his work. However, in Spain the most recent memories of him continue to be those that tie him to Jessica Bueno, from whom he separated in 2022. A divorce that was traumatic for both parties and that filled hours of social gatherings and gossip magazine covers.
“Uglier things that no one knows. They were harassing me, they sent me photos in my underwear, in my pajamas. Everything was known by the person who was with him, not by me, and on top of that he was beating me up. She sent me all the screenshots. I leave my house and the next day there was another person sleeping in my bed. There are a lot of things about that. It makes me so sad… It affected me so much because I put my hand in the fire for him,” Jessica explained about it.
