[Euro-2024] Fangueiro/CR7, only one degree of separation

Before becoming CR7’s representative this winter, Ricardo Regoff was a friend and colleague of Dudelangeois coach Carlos Vanguero, in their hometown of Matosinhos.

It’s a nearly century-old theory that, like many other things, has been rocked by modern usage. While the Hungarian writer, poet, playwright and journalist Frigyes Carinthia proved in 1929 that it takes no more than six people to relate two inhabitants of the planet, thus creating the theory of the Six Degrees of Separation (or the Six Handles of Hands), this number has been estimated at Facebook with 4.74 in 2011, then 3.5 in 2016.

Obviously, this decline has something to do with the evolution of social networks as an explanation, but Carlos Fanguero may also have something to do with it. Only one degree separates the coach of Dudelangoa from his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo, and this degree now bears a famous name on the football planet: Ricardo Regoff, 43, from the signing of CR7 in Al-Nasr (Saudi Arabia) this winter and a new official. representative of the Portuguese.

The role has historically passed to Lusitanian Jorge Mendes, who has the best agent in Globe Soccer (9) more than Ronaldo has the Ballon d’Or (5), and the role fell to Regufe after Mendes failed to find a way out. To the point of his pony last summer, when he was looking to leave Manchester United.

An upgrade in the logic of things if we know that Ricardo Regoff, whom he met in the early 2000s when he was representative of the Nike brand in Portugal and Spain, over time became a close friend of Ronaldo and, in 2018, a personal manager and advisor to the Portuguese international (197 caps). , 122 goals), particularly in commercial or heritage cases.

Before that, Rigoff was an honest footballer, a striker “very quick and good in depth”, recalls Carlos Vangueiro, who like him was born and raised in Matosinhos, a seaside resort of 175,000 belonging to the greater Porto region, and rubbed shoulders with him at Leixões Sport Club, City Club, now 13^H From Liga Pro, the domestic D2, having notably played for three seasons in the elite, between 2007 and 2010.

“I knew him when I was 10, he was 9, returning F91 coach. Because we are a year apart and the age groups are two, we have played in the same team one season out of two. Vanguero is on the right wing, Regoff leads. But even More so on the field, from which the second moved away when the opportunity presented itself to Nike, upon leaving a loan in Portuguese D3, the two men, who also attended the same schools, developed a strong bond.

“He’s someone who always smiles and makes you smile, who always makes you want to be with him,” Fanguero portrays. “It’s easy to make friends with him.” We had a close-knit group. We ate a lot of meals together, a lot of restaurants, and we could talk about football for hours…”

Fangueiro being ‘focused on football’ and Regufe trolling all over the Iberian Peninsula catering to the playoff brand, such indulgences were not then reproduced. But this never stopped Ryzhov from treating his older brother to spiked shoes, nor the two men who will meet on the field on Sunday, from continuing to chat on … social networks.

“He has his life, I have mine, but sometimes we send messages to each other or leave comments on photos”, continues Carlos Vangueiro who, ten years after his two encounters with Vitória Guimarães in 2002/2003, when Cristiano started with Sporting’s first team crosses with Five-pointed Ballon d’Or award in Luxembourg during one of the visits of the Lusitanian selection. Apparently, Riccardo Regoff wasn’t far behind already.

“Together they have a great friendship. He assures the coach of Dudlangua, who will be present on the edge of the grass on Sunday at the Stade Luxembourg, as a consultant for the Portuguese TV channel that will broadcast the meeting in the country. This is not surprising: Ricciardo is a beautiful and loyal man, and Cristiano needs people like that around him.And the Seleção still needs Cristiano, if we are to believe Thursday’s meeting against Liechtenstein, as the CR7 holder planted a brace and broke several new records.