If Bryan Adams sings about the summer of ’۶۹, Leo Mendonca reminisces about its numerical reverse: the summer of ’۹۶. The eight-year-old travelled 50 kilometres with his parents and siblings from Jaragua do Sul to Piçarras beach. Another family accompanied them for the holidays.

As the adults sipped ice-cold beer and soaked up the sun, the kids kicked a ball around. Leo was awestruck. When he got back home, he insisted to anyone who’d listen that they’d one day see his brother and his brother’s friend on TV.

His prediction proved prophetic. Junior went on to become a professional futsal player. Filipe Luis went on to represent Brazil in the FIFA World Cup™. Not, however, before Leo had appeared at the global finals – on courts and for a country he hadn’t even heard of on that Santa Catarina sand.

Almaty is poles apart from Jaragua – January can reach 35° in the latter and -40° in the former – but when the defender moved there in 2008, he fell in love with the city. Then its country. Leo went on to unthinkably help Kairat conquer the UEFA Futsal Champions League twice, and catapult Kazakhstan from nobodies into a global powerhouse.