Home is where the heart is; just ask Rui Abreu | OneFootball

From Paços de Ferreira fan to club president

Born in Paços de Ferreira, Rui Abreu grew up attending Paços de Ferreira matches with his grandfather, whilst his father oversaw matches as a referee. Unlike his friends, Abreu didn’t support one of the Big Three (Benfica, Porto, or Sporting), but his hometown club. Whilst he preferred playing American football or basketball to football, Abreu nevertheless enjoyed attending Paços matches and quickly became interested in the Beautiful Game. More than just what was happening on the pitch, though, what Abreu really enjoyed was the off-the-pitch matters.

“I always enjoyed football, specifically, the off-the-pitch side – that of the stands, the fans, the signings, everything that encompasses a club except for the actual game,” stated Abreu in an exclusive RG interview.

“Ever since I was little, I had this more particular taste for the more external part of soccer. Whenever I went to the games, it gave me extreme pleasure to see the ultras groups and the club’s marketing actions. My favourite part of the season has always been the summer transfer window, looking at the transfers and seeing which players were joining my club. Obviously, I enjoyed the part on the pitch, but I was only interested in Paços de Ferreira’s games. I didn’t get any pleasure from watching Real Madrid or Barcelona. Maybe I’ll watch a Boca Juniors vs. River Plate or a Premier League game to see how their clubs work on matchday, but I’ve always been more focused on what’s happening outside the field than inside the field.”

High academic achiever

After graduating from the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança with a Bachelor’s degree in Clinical and Public Health Sciences in 2009, Abreu worked at IKEA’s main headquarters in Portugal as a translator and quality inspector before spending nine months teaching haematology in Angola. Abreu later worked as an Occupational Medicine Officer for Acção Contínua before making the transition from the health industry and working as a marketing assistant for premium furniture exporter Dolaya Lda. He also continued his academic career by earning a Bachelor’s degree in Business Communication, Organisational Communication, and Business from the Porto Institute of Accounting and Administration in 2019 and a Master’s degree in Marketing from the School of Economics and Management of the University of Porto. Abreu started working for Paços de Ferreira, initially on a volunteer basis, as the ‘líder de claques’ or main cheerleader, before being promoted to the club’s marketing and communications manager.

“It was a hobby, a pastime, but I wouldn’t take any of that back. As the leader of the claque (ultras), you’d have to commit a lot of time after class or work to arranging travel for supporters, dealing with ticket issues, hiring buses, meeting the police, etc, which was a lot of work. Ultras generally experience the club more passionately, more fiercely, than most fans. And of course, this gave me a different perspective on what soccer is and what fans demand, and it allowed me to better understand the fans’ dissatisfaction with some decisions we are sometimes forced to make. It enabled me to gain experience that now directs me, for example, to always try to defend the fans’ interests in league meetings.”

Progress behind the scenes; decline on the pitch

In 2021, Abreu left his position with Dolaya and started working full time with Paços, helping the club stake its reputation with a cunning, original social media team and impressive fan outreach initiatives. When Liga Portugal forced Paços fans to make the six-hour drive to Belenenses-SAD on a Friday night, Paços offered their fans free transportation and tickets to the match. And in 2023, Paços collaborated with local theatre groups Alma and Adaterra to produce a play about the club’s history – “Como Cresceste, Vasquinho” – in celebration of Paços’ 73rd birthday.

But whilst Abreu helped Paços make their mark off the pitch, he was unable to stop their decline, with the Beavers quickly descending from the lofty heights of European football and suffering relegation in 2023. And after finishing fifth in the second division, 12 points outside of the playoff spots, Abreu decided to depart from his boyhood club for Rio Ave in September 2024 as their new Marketing Manager.

“I’ve always had a passion for marketing and communications. I joined Paços as a Fan Liaison Officer to build a bridge between the fans and management before realising that the marketing and communications department was a bit neglected, and that I could help contribute to that area. I began to build a career in that area, initially as a part-time job without pay, before working full-time at Paços until Rio Ave’s invitation came. What led me to leave? I saw that, as a professional, I could work in an organisation where love was not involved. Paços is love; Rio Ave was a profession.”

“Obviously, after joining the organisation, you gain affection for Rio Ave, but that was it. It was a very interesting, challenging project that would have further advanced my marketing career. However, I continued to follow Paços very closely, and when the possibility of running for president in the elections came up, I believed that I could help Paços in arguably the worst moment in the club’s history, and it was with that spirit that I came here.”

A man on a mission

A mere six months after making the move to Vila de Conde, Abreu decided to return to Paços and fight for the club’s presidential elections after Paulo Meneses – who hired Abreu – decided to step down after 12 years at the helm. He acquiesced to the pleas of Paços fans and stakeholders and decided to file his candidacy on the final day possible. When local businessman Pedro Andrade was rejected after declining to take charge until after the end of the season, Abreu was able to win an uncontested mandate of 2,176 votes on 21 March 2025.

After narrowly escaping relegation to the third division after beating Belenenses in the promotion/relegation playoff, Paços find themselves in a similar predicament, with the Castores occupying the relegation zone ahead of Monday’s match against last-placed Porto B. Abreu, who has a mandate until 2027, has already mentioned plenty of ambitious goals like converting the club into a PLC and attracting foreign investors, but he is in no doubt that the number one goal is avoiding relegation to Liga 3.

Realism

“I don’t sell dreams. I’m a very pragmatic person who has no problem in saying how bad we are, how humble our objectives are. I have no interest in saying, ‘Paços will fight to go up’ when we have three points after five games. I think we have to be realistic and honest with the fans. Naturally, there are some fans who don’t like my style of management as President, who disagree with what I do, and who think I should be more ambitious and take more risks. The truth is, this ambition could go well and could take us to a higher level, but if things go wrong, it could mean the end of the club.”

“I'll be happy if I leave here as a President who has enabled Paços to make progress and create a strong foundation so that the club can return to the top-flight of Portuguese soccer in the future. Of course, I’d love to be champions and immediately win promotion, but at this stage, it’s essential for us to restore Paços’ foundation. One thing is clear: while I’m here, I will do everything I can to ensure the club isn’t harmed. I will do everything I can to ensure the club survives, and I will do everything I can to ensure that whoever comes after me finds a better club than the one I found.”