With a little sister like Rafaella Beckran, the now-infamous Neymar Jr. isn’t the only recognizable face in his family. The gorgeous 22-year-old has gained global attention for her incredible social media platform on Instagram and Twitter and for her booming modeling career.
Her tight relationship with Neymar has also captured scrutiny from the public, causing speculation about whether their devoted relationship to each other as siblings is appropriate. Below we take a look at who Rafaella Beckran is, from her obsession with David Beckham to the soccer stars she's dated. Check out Rafaella's accomplishments along with her unusually close relationship with Neymar.
Rafaella was born on March 11, 1996, four years after her big brother Neymar Jr. Neymar was born in a poor district north of Sao Paulo, Brazil, called Mogi das Cruzes and lived a block away from the town’s local dump. When Rafaella was born, the family moved in with her grandmother until they saved up enough money to move into a large house in Jardim Gloria, which was still an impoverished region.
At the young age of six, Neymar was seen by his first coach, Betinho, playing soccer on the beach and Betinho was impressed, to say the least. He was quoted saying, “I saw a six-year-old boy running through the stands and that caught my attention, for seeing his ability, agility and motor coordination, because any tumble he would face there it would have caused a fracture — an ugly one.”
Betinho spoke with Neymar’s parents about his impressive abilities and his dad, being an ex-footballer himself, was ecstatic. While the family was anything but wealthy, Neymar’s parents did everything they could to ensure Neymar was receiving everything he needed to excel in soccer. By the time he was 14 years old, his parents had bought him 50 soccer balls and even a soccer video game which was unheard of in their little town.
While Neymar was being pampered with soccer equipment, Rafaella was forced to construct her own toys and equipment to use for activities. At a young age, she built her own skateboard out of plywood and wheels she unscrewed from food carts along the streets of her town. Although Rafaella was placed into the shadows financially, during interviews she has said that her family has always been extremely close and that although she and Neymar bickered as children, they have always been best friends.
When Rafaella was born her surname was the same as her parents and her brother's — Da Silva Santos. But when she was old enough she legally changed it to Beckran to mimic David Beckham, who she has idolized since she was a little girl.
Rafaella's preference for soccer players has been shown through the men she has dated over the past few years, although there have only been a few of them. One of her first public relationships began in 2013 with Lukinhas Crispim, a professional soccer player who plays for Brazil and Esporte Clube São Bento.
In 2015 rumors began spreading that said Rafaella and Santos star Luca Lima were dating. The rumors were never confirmed, but they did travel together to vacation in Disneyland with friends that December and were caught at a dinner out smooching.
Rafaella began dating another Santos player in 2016, but this time around she took their relationship public. Brazilian and A.C. Milan footballer Gabriel "Gabigol" Barbosa, who was a teammate and friend of Neymar's, was seen vacationing with the beauty close to the holidays.
Last but not least is Rafaella's current boyfriend, A.C Milan and Portuguese footballer André Silva. The couple began dating in June of 2017 but things have been heating up quickly and there have even been signs of a possible engagement between the two lovebirds.
Rafaella and André are currently enjoying a vacation in Bali and although there are no pictures of the two of them together, they have been posting pictures of each other and tweeting messages back and forth throughout their trip so that the world is aware of their cute banter and love for one another.
Outside of her relationships with soccer players, Rafaella has been pursuing her modeling career and is very involved in the fashion industry. She has modeled frequently for her family's fashion label, Elleven Wear and a skateboard apparel shop, Zero 13, and she even designed her own line of sunglasses which were released in 2016.
In 2015 Rafaella began her acting career when she was cast as the main role in a music video made by Onze 20, a popular reggae band in Brazil. She also received a main role in the Beats by Dre film "The Game Before The Game".
Along with focusing on her career, Rafaella has contributed a lot of her time to Instituto Neymar. Neymar founded the program in 2014, which focuses on helping socially disadvantaged children who live in Praia Grande, Sao Paolo, located close to where Neymar and Rafaella grew up.
Instituto Neymar offers extracurricular educational and sporting activities to these children, which provides them with tools they can use for the rest of their lives. Rafaella frequently works with the program and is a huge advocate for aiding in its growth.
Although her modeling and charity work are two of her biggest passions, what she holds closest to her heart is her relationship with her big brother, Neymar Jr. Neymar and Rafaella are closer than most siblings and spend as much time with each other as possible.
Valuing family is very important to both of them and the relationship represents a lifelong best-friendship. They aren't shy about their deep bond and frequently share photos and videos of them spending time together. They also publicly communicate with each other through Instagram and Twitter, and that sometimes sounds more like a cheesy Valentines Day card than a message to a sibling: "My heart is yours, my love is yours, my smile is yours, my day, my night, my longing, my best company."
The two are so close that they got matching tattoos on their arms. Neymar's has the word "Sorella" ("sister" in Italian) and Rafaella's has the word "Fratello" ("brother" in Italian). Neymar also got a tattoo of a selfie Rafaella took on the outside of his right upper bicep and Rafaella got Neymar's eyes inked onto the inside of her left arm.
While some people support the strong bond Neymar and Rafaella have, others have speculated that their relationship crosses the line for how close siblings should be. Many fans of Neymar's have opposed the brother-sister relationship purely due to Neymar's absence at every game that occurs on March 11th, the soccer star's sister's birthday. Neymar has found an excuse to get him out of playing on this day for the past four seasons.
With recent rumors of him transferring to Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos has been quoted by Caden SER saying, "I like to play with the best and Neymar is one of them, I hope. What we have to negotiate is his sister's birthday [laughs]." The common trend of him missing this game may be the only reason that negative feelings have been associated with Rafaella and Neymar, or maybe they are a little too close for comfort.
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Regardless of the different attitudes fans have about Neymar and Rafaella's relationship, she will continue being a popular figure for as long as Neymar is prominent in the world of soccer. The beauty has gained attention from his fans and from people across the globe with 4.5 millions followers on Instagram, and she is gaining more attention on Twitter every day.
With her older brother taking on the role of one of the most talented footballers in the world and her track record of dating soccer stars, Rafaella may just be the ultimate WAG of today's generation of soccer.
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