At 24 years old, Igor Thiago is living a great moment. The player was the vice-top scorer of the Premier League 2025/26 defending Brentford and today competes for a starting spot in the Brazilian national team's attack. The trajectory of the forward, however, began far from the big stages of football: in Cidade Ocidental, in Goiás, in the social project Grêmio Ocidental. The name is not a coincidence: it was inspired by the Tricolor of Porto Alegre. Radio Gaúcha interviewed Sérgio Gonçalves, the idealizer of the project that today brings together more than 150 young people from low-income families in the region. He not only discovered the forward, but the relationship between the two is so close that the player calls him "father". — He comes to us with eight years, brought by his brother. With nine, he lost his father. I was very close and kind of assumed the fatherhood — remembers Sérgio. Gonçalves also says that the family was humble and he helped with football boots and sports trips for the then boy. Today, Igor Thiago is the one who helps the project. — He said it's just a matter of calling him and he'll buy. When I need a ball, I make a quote, send it to him, he pays and the people come to deliver. He always helped. He made the uniform because it was difficult for me — revealed. The project and Grêmio Cidade Ocidental is in Goiás, but much closer to Brasília than to the capital Goiânia. There, in 1997, Sérgio and a friend created the social project Flamenguinho, of futsal, inspired by the Rio de Janeiro club. — Flamengo only lost, so we decided to change to "Grêmio", because Grêmio only won — he said laughing. And it's not just the name. The shield, the colors and the uniforms refer to the Tricolor. The project started with futsal, the origin of Igor Thiago. When the number of students was close to 80, Grêmio Ocidental changed to the field. Today, there are more than 150 young people from low-income families, who train three times a week. Igor Thiago and the National Team At 16 years old, the forward left the social project to play for Verê, in Paraná. With distinction, he went to Cruzeiro the following year, but still in the youth categories. In Belo Horizonte, Igor disputed the Série B. He scored goals that caught the attention of Ludogorets, from Bulgaria. The sale value was around R$ 3.6 million. In Eastern Europe, there were 55 games, 21 goals and five assists. Thus, he was sold to Club Brugge, where he made 55 games, scored 29 times and gave six passes for goals. Brentford contracted him in 2024 for 38 million euros, the biggest sale in Belgian football. There are 25 goals and one assist in 48 games. In addition to being the current vice-top scorer of the Premier League, behind only Haaland, Igor Thiago arrived at the Brazilian national team. This was not a surprise for Sérgio. — I imagined the Brazilian national team because we always talked about it. Since he was eight years old, we talked about him becoming a professional. When he was 16 or 17 years old, one day I was praying and I said to him: "Look, you're going to leave Verê, you're going to go to a first division team in Brazil and then you're going to be sold to Europe. You're going to explode and you're going to be in the national team". I said that in 2024. Now, the forecast goes beyond. — I'm now asking God for the hexa goal to come from his foot, okay? Record it, because if it comes, you'll have to call me — he said laughing. By the Amarelinha, Igor Thiago has four games, two goals and one assist. He fights for a starting spot with Matheus Cunha and End