Neguinho on childhood difficulties and being Brazil’s baby

Not knowing what was happening to her three-year-old son, Eliane Maria da Silva Alves was growing increasingly concerned. Joao Victor had contorted feet and was suffering from mobility issues.

The young boy left the hospital with his feet bandaged up as a preventative measure. The diagnosis given was that his symptoms were brought on by emotional trauma.

Joao Victor speaks to FIFA today as a Brazil international, with four goals under his belt in their run to the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™ quarter-finals. He’s also just signed for Barcelona, fulfilling a prophecy he published on the Catalan club’s social networks, though he will spend another year on loan at Palma.

At 24 years of age, Neguinho is the youngest member of Marquinhos Xavier’s squad, which has the highest average age of any at this World Cup. To put it into context, the next youngest member of the squad is 29-year-old Leandro Lino.

“A lot of people cannot believe it when I tell them my age,” said the fixo or winger and father of three-year-old Maria Antonella. “I think it is because I am quite level-headed and mature for my age.”

For anyone who is familiar with the journey of Neguinho and his mother, from Jardim Miliunas in the east end of the metropolis of Sao Paulo to playing futsal in the Spanish league – or all the way over in Bukhara – it comes as no surprise that he speaks with so much maturity. Without having his father around, a young Joao Victor and his mother had to really work hard to forge a career for him in the sport. Working as a housekeeper, Eliane always found a way to set some money aside in order to pay for her son’s bus fares.

And off Neguinho went, clinging on to steady himself on a packed bus, with no air conditioning, for journeys that could take up to two hours to get to his club. The journey back home, at least – where he would arrive not long before midnight – was a lot quicker.
Over time, though, it was becoming clear that the investment would pay off. Neguinho started playing football for Juventus while simultaneously playing futsal for Corinthians. Having approached him twice already, it was third time lucky for the latter as Neguinho finally agreed to make the switch to futsal. The rest is history.

How are you finding it being at the Futsal World Cup?
Neguinho: It’s sensational being at a World Cup, but also being the youngest player called up into the squad. Being called up for a squad that has thousands of great players to choose from is a dream come true. I now have to try to keep learning every day, not just from the players but from the coaches too. That could be in training, in a game or just a conversation. You also see the attitude of these players and try to learn from that. I just feel privileged to be able to experience this at such a young age, being at a World Cup with such a strong team.

We know how focused you all are on trying to win that trophy. But do the team joke around with you given that you are the newcomer to the group?
Marquinhos is the biggest joker. When it comes to joking around, it ends up coming back round to me. As I’m the youngest it always starts with me. It is funny, though. Most people cannot believe my age. Maybe it is just the way I am. I am a level-headed, easy-going guy and I think that I am very mature for my age. I am already a father, you know? That changes you. So a lot of people cannot believe it when I tell them I am 24 years old. But I already used to get that when I was 17 or 18.

As well as being the youngest, you might also be the smallest player in the Seleção squad. So how do you manage to unleash those ferocious shots like the goals you have scored at this tournament?
That is something I have tried to perfect since being told about it. Everyone around me always used to say that I could do everything apart from shoot. They would say that I needed to work on my finishing but also that I needed to shoot more. I tried to take that on board. I always want to take on board the good advice I get from people around me in training. And thankfully I’m now seeing the results of that. I’m managing to finish more chances and score more goals for the team.

But did you ever imagine that you would already have four goals to your name going into the quarter-finals?
I believed that I would score goals. I was thinking about that, but I obviously did not know how many I would get. It’s always nice to score but my main priority is always to help the team in any way I can. We all have the same objective here: to become champions. That is the important thing for me. If we were able to win the tournament without me scoring any goals, then great. I would trade those goals and anything else for winning the trophy. I think that my best attribute is that I always give it 100 per cent whether I play for one minute, 10 or 20. I always aim to leave everything out on the court every time I play for Brazil or my club.

And you are now a Barcelona player…
It’s quite unbelievable. I have always dreamed of playing for Barcelona – they are the biggest club in the world for me. I always believed that I had what it took to play in Europe and that I would do whatever it took to make it happen. I am just so grateful that it has happened so soon. I would love to keep playing there and for the national team for another 10 years at least.

When you were younger, you actually wrote a post on social media saying that you were going to play for Barcelona one day. I think you said in five years, but you have managed it in less time than that…
Yes. I remember I had finished training with Corinthians – I had just turned professional. I sat down, grabbed my phone and I thought, ‘Right, I am going to send Barcelona a message’. And I ended up messaging their Instagram account. I said, “In five years’ time I will be there”, that kind of thing. And they never replied until now! (laughs)

Well, perhaps they just responded with a contract?
Yes (laughs). The most important thing is that it worked out and I’m very happy. Now I can just enjoy it, you know? When I went there to do the medical, it felt like I was dreaming. I almost had to pinch myself. But that was when I told the supervisor that I had sent that message and that they had not replied. Then they replied.

I can only imagine how proud your mother must have been, after all the effort you both had to put in to make your career a possibility…
My mother is really proud. We went through a lot when I was a child. I have not told many people about this, but my hair started to fall out when I was about three or four years old. They were the first signs of alopecia, which was caused by the emotional trauma of not having my father around. My feet started to contort around that age as well. We went to the hospital and the doctor said that I had to keep them bandaged up, so I had to just stay on the sofa. And now I’m a futsal player. For Brazil and Barcelona. Who would have thought?

So at one point you could have ended up with crooked feet, then, as you started to grow, your mother did everything she could to help you to forge a career in futsal. That cannot have been easy…
To be honest, most of this is down to her. I’ll never be able to find the words to express how grateful I am, to explain how much she helped me. Her perseverance, her patience, her love. It wasn’t easy. She could have very easily sent me out to work from a young age to help support her at home, which is what happened with a lot of my friends. Hopefully now I will be able to take her to Spain so that she can spend some time with my family. I am not sure when this will happen.

Does she still work as a housekeeper?
She does, yes, but I think she will be able to stop doing that job soon. I would love for her to be able to quit. But she is also now doing some courses to start working as a nanny with her boss.