The Plenary of the City Council agrees to appoint businessman José María Téllez ‘Popi’ and sports director Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ as Adopted Sons of Estepona.

The appointments will be made at the institutional ceremony on Constitution Day.

The Plenary of the Estepona City Council today approved the appointment of the businessman and ham cutter José María Téllez ‘Popi’ and the sports trainer of cycling teams Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’ as Adopted Sons of the city. The appointment will be made in the institutional act on the occasion of the celebration of Constitution Day.

The Councillor for Citizen Participation, María Aguilar, stressed that José María Téllez ‘Popi’ took his first steps as a ham cutter in the winery where he worked, and in 2010 began to participate in cutting competitions throughout Spain, carrying the name of Estepona by flag. For fourteen years, and always with great success in participation, he has organized the National Ham Cutters Contest in the city, which bears his name, where the best professionals from all over Spain meet.

His work in the world of hospitality and events is combined with solidarity festivals and gastronomic fairs, with the aim of promoting and highlighting not only ham and pork products, but also the great quality and variety of other products made by Malaga companies.

Since 2014 it has been the main promoter of the ‘Certamen Mundial de Jamón Popi Ciudad de Estepona’. The event, declared last year a Festival of Tourist Interest in Andalusia, is organized together with the Estepona City Council, and is sponsored by the brand ‘Sabor a Málaga’ of the Provincial Council of Malaga and the Ministry of Tourism of the Andalusian Government. In addition to serving as a promotional tool for the municipality of Estepona, this contest has become the most visited in Spain.

His great charisma, his kindness and cheerfulness, have made POPI a regular face of Canal Sur Television, where he appears regularly in various programs promoting the name of Estepona and its own brand, POPI Hams.

On the other hand, the mayor María Aguilar has highlighted the figure of Joxean Fernández ‘Matxin’, born in Basauri-Vizcaya but with strong ties to the city of Estepona, as he lives here for long periods each year. He is sports director of professional cycling teams and has always been linked to this sport. Outstanding cyclist in lower categories, amateur from 1989 to 1991, he became with 21 years old sports director of different amateur teams.

In 2017 UAE Team Emirates made official the signing of Joxean Fernandez as Sport Manager of the team and from that moment began a reconstruction of the team under a policy of incorporating young talents. As the world’s best and only scouting director, he arrived at UAE when the team was ranked 18th in the world. His goal was to lead the team to the first position. He won the title in 2023 and retained it in 2024.

In 2020, the policy put in place by Matxin of signing the best youngsters available was accentuated reaching 33 victories. Under his guidance, Pogacar won his first Tour de France.

In 2021 he was named ‘Tourist of Honor’ by the City Council of Estepona when choosing the city and his involvement was important for our city to host one of the stages of La Vuelta. In addition, in recent years ‘Matxin’ has hosted his teams in Estepona hotel establishments for their training, also contributing to the promotion of the city.

Last July 25 he held a meeting with Estepona cycling fans at the Casa de las Tejerinas, proving to be an affable and approachable person, who is always willing to share his experiences with others. His desire to continue promoting cycling in our city continues and proof of this is that, at this moment, he is organizing a visit of the Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar, one of the best in the world for his magnificent track record.

Alzheimer’s Center

On the other hand, the Plenary has given the green light to the declaration of special interest for the works of the future center for elderly people in a situation of dependence being built by the Association of Relatives of Alzheimer’s patients in Estepona.

The Consistory has considered the roots that the association has in the town and the great work done on behalf of relatives and affected by the disease, to consider that these works have a special interest, once verified that they have all the requirements under current regulations for such a declaration. This measure entails a 95% bonus on the tax of constructions, installations and works for this project.