14 Rare Cristiano Ronaldo Photos You Need To See

Smile, you've been caught on candid camera.

by Andrew Pollard
There's a very strong argument to be made for Cristiano Ronaldo having been the best footballer on the planet for the last 2 years. In fact, some can even argue that he's been the best player for even longer than that. Whilst the debate on the world's greatest player is a constant topic of debate, what is official is that Ronaldo is the current holder of the Ballon d'Or and so rightly or wrongly recognised as the best player of the last voting period. Even the biggest Lionel Messi fans can't argue with CR7's worthiness during that time. We all see Ronaldo as an immaculately groomed (see: greasy), chiselled (as demonstrated by regular removing of his shirt), egotistical (he has a naked mural of himself in his house!), billionaire footballer, but there are certain sides of the Portuguese's life that the general public don't get to see. So let's take a look at some photographs from some of Cristiano's younger days, some of those more private moments, times of celebration, times of sadness, some frankly odd photos, and back to times quite simply before he was the global footballing superstar and icon that we all know and love/hate (*delete as applicable). So Cristiano Ronaldo, smile, you've been caught on candid camera.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.