Batman has Robin, Captain America has Bucky Barnes, Sherlock Holmes has Dr. John Watson and Cristiano Ronaldo has... Ricky Regufe. Ricky who! you may be wondering, but like so many of our long-lost relatives- you see his face and you'd be like “Oh Wait! I know this dude!”
That's because he's there in almost every other photo that the world's most “followed” footballer puts up on his social media accounts (especially Instagram) and is now one of the most recognisable “who-is-this-guy” in the world.
So who exactly is this guy?
Regufe is a former footballer turned sports marketing professional who currently serves as Nike's Sports Marketing Manger for Portugal (he's been with Nike since June 2000). It was sometime in 2003 that Regufe met a young buck-toothed prodigy playing for Sporting Lisbon named Ronaldo and had the kind of once-in-a-lifetime brainwaves that make or break a successful professional career.
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The junior PR man soon struck a warm friendship with the footballer six years his junior and it was he who convinced Ronaldo to sign his first major boot deal with Nike. And he stuck by the young winger through thick and thin – ensuring that Nike keeps up their end of the bargain.
This unswerving loyalty was soon rewarded as Regufe's position with Nike grew alongside the meteoric rise of the footballing juggernaut that is Cristiano Ronaldo today.
In turn, the solid relationship that Nike had with the Portugal national team (having been associated with A Seleçãsince 1998) became an even more fruitful one. It was win-win-win for Portugal, Ronaldo and Nike, and it was all thanks to one man – Regufe.
What is the secret behind the “Cricky” relationship
So famous are the two on the interwebs that they have even found themselves with a nickname - “Cricky”.
To understand how and why Regufe grew so close to Ronaldo, and how Cricky came into being, it is important to understand that the Portuguese superstar inhabits a stratospheric level that few of us can ever comprehend.
His existence is as separated from reality as it can be – when your son grows up learning how to pronounce the names of the Lamborghinis in your garage, and when the Priest at your son's christening ceremony asks for a selfie with you, it just isn't what one would call “normal”.
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Ronaldo's private life is a sheltered cocoon where only a select few individuals have their say – his son Cristiano junior, mother Dolores, the super-agent Jorge Mendes, and of course Regufe – that is designed solely to insulate the man from the shameful amounts of vitriol that keeps getting generated across the globe and to keep the massive amounts of positive energy that football's biggest ego demands.
This then goes beyond a mere business relationship – while working together for 13 years while generating a mind-numbing £14.1million a year in endorsements (He now also undertakes the onerous responsibility of being Ronaldo's personal manager and handling the might brand that is “CR7”) – a close friendship has blossomed that has withstood the test of time and is arguably the great man's closest friend.
A large part of this is due to Regufe's loyalty – a man in his position would be privy to the kind of information that would be worth its weight in platinum to journalists and paparazzi around the globe, but he has always steadfastly maintained a strict no-interaction policy with the press.
For a man who lives his life alongside one of the most famous celebrities in the world, he is about as private a man as it can get. Typical of a good friend, he refuses to take any credit for Ronaldo's growth and instead focuses on the Superstar's phenomenal levels of dedication to his profession.
He is everywhere – from helping Ronaldo juggle his massive array of endorsements to hanging out during a quiet family dinner, to even being pitchside for the Euros (thanks to his accreditation with Nike and the Portugal National Team) and all those pictures that Ronaldo puts up really do give out the air of two best mates hanging out.
Coming from arguably the world's most commercialised athlete - it's refreshing to see a man who is notoriously distant from team-mates and most of his peers, the importance of having a man he can trust with him at all times cannot be overstated. Everyone needs friends, even Ronaldo. And in Ricky Regufe, he most certainly has one.
