“We never know if a boy will become a player, but you could see that he was different”, says Gabriel Rodrigues about the beginning of the career of his old friend Raphinha, one of the stars of the Brazilian team that will compete in the 2026 World Cup.
The 29-year-old Barcelona striker grew up in the humble Restinga neighborhood of Porto Alegre and his first coach, ‘Seu Farias’, remembers him with a mix of pride and nostalgia.
He says that Raphinha was a boy of few words, but he spoke with the ball at his feet.
“It’s not that he was shy, but he wasn’t one to chatter,” says Luis Carlos Farias, 83 years old with a white beard, coach of the national team star at the neighborhood team Monte Castelo, where he played as a boy.
“His father saw that he was interested in things and he started to evolve”, recalls ‘Seu Farias’ in the living room of his house in Restinga, highlighting the “importance” of the family in an environment marked by poverty and urban violence.
Raphinha’s father, Rafael, is a musician. Nicknamed ‘Maninho’, he formed a close friendship with football star Ronaldinho Gaúcho, who used to hire his band.
A dirt road in a rural area in the neighboring neighborhood of Viamão leads to the rented field where Esporte Clube 2014 trains, a social project in which 115 children between the ages of six and 17 play football for free.
“Raphinha is a dream that came true”, says a poster hanging on the field’s fence.
The Barça player underwent this project when he was 15 years old, after being dismissed from tests at the Internacional and Grêmio bases because he was considered too frail.
Esporte Clube 2014 coach, Ivo Gonçalves remembers that he was surprised by that boy’s “personality” to overcome difficulties.
“He was a guy who knew what he wanted, he had a goal. So he came to work, he didn’t come to play or waste time”, says Ivo, 52 years old.
Gabriel Rodrigues trained together with Raphinha, although he was in a higher age category. Now he is one of the team’s technical assistants, which survives thanks to donations.
“Raphinha suffered a lot with his physical size. Very thin, small, but he erased all of that on the field by playing ball”, says Gabriel about training on the now practically abandoned field.
“The best moment”
For him, sport helps to make boys who live in dangerous neighborhoods, where it is “easy” to stray from the path, “good citizens.”
Raphinha told the Spanish sports newspaper Sport that he saw “friends” get involved in crime.
“Some of them were much better players than me,” he lamented.
Gabriel Fauzi, 28, played with the Barça striker.
“I, unfortunately, got lost in crime. I was in prison for six years. I’ve been on the street for three years, I gave up everything. I’m with a family, I’m with a daughter”, says the regenerated Fauzi, who remembers the days in the field as “the best moment” of his life.
“I played his football and went home. It was always like that”, he says about Raphinha.
Or idol
After leaving neighborhood football, Raphinha went through the youth categories of Audax-SP and Avaí, until reaching the professional ranks.
Away from the spotlight, as he never played in Série A of the Brasileirão, he made the jump to Europe at the age of 19, to play for Vitória de Guimarães, in Portugal.
The next step was Sporting Lisbon, where he began a meteoric rise: he played for Rennes, in France, shone for Leeds, in England, and, finally, became one of the highlights of Barcelona’s attack.
Since arriving at the Catalan club in 2022, Raphinha has won the Spanish Championship three times.
“He represents an idol for me who is in professional football, where I want to be. He’s in the national team”, says João Rafael da Silva, 16, who trains at Esporte Clube 2014.
Raphinha is always traveling to Porto Alegre. In December 2025, he participated in a toy distribution event.
And people remember him fondly: a portrait and images of the attacker are painted at the entrance to the school where he studied.
“I hope I play well [na Copa do Mundo]! We, Restinga, the entire community, are rooting for him to be the protagonist”, says ‘Seu Farias’.
