Igor Jesus, one of the breakout stars of the Club World Cup, celebrates his goals by imitating a character from a Japanese cartoon. Team-mates at youth level called him Sapinho — Little Frog — because he used to leap around when playing in goal. As a kid, he spent his weekends at a market stall in his hometown, helping his grandfather clean fish.
These are all fun facts. Together, they tell you a bit about the Botafogo striker and where he comes from. But the most interesting thing about Igor Jesus is something else entirely. It is this: just over a year ago, barely anyone had even heard of him.
In 2023 and the first months of 2024, his name cropped up in a lot of excitable articles in the Rio de Janeiro press. His name, but not him: the buzz was about Flamengo midfielder Igor Jesus, a former Brazil Under-23 midfielder who now plays for Los Angeles FC. His namesake — our Igor Jesus — was about as relevant to the local football scene as you or I.
He was playing for Shabab Al Ahli in the United Arab Emirates. He had been there since October 2020. Even fans of Coritiba, the Brazilian club at which Igor Jesus first made his breakthrough, had all but forgotten he existed.
Igor Jesus and his cartoon celebration (Photo: Justin Setterfield – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
It is not unusual for Brazilian footballers to move to the Middle East. The money can be incredibly good: a few years there might provide financial security for years, sometimes even generations. Countless players have gone to the UAE, to Qatar, to Saudi Arabia. Coaches, too. Many of them return for second, third, fourth stints.
That option normally comes at a cost, however. When you move to Dubai at 19, as Igor Jesus did, people will — rightly or wrongly — infer certain things about your ability, your priorities, how you see your career. Stay until you are 23 and those thoughts are amplified. These are the runway years of any career. It is incredibly rare for a player to spend them out of the spotlight and still have enough momentum for lift-off.
Igor Jesus has laughed in the face of that convention.
He arrived at Botafogo in July 2024, ostensibly as a backup to first-choice striker Tiquinho Soares. That didn’t stop him from stating his intention to break into the Brazil team. Three months and 19 Botafogo appearances later, he did just that, scoring on debut against Chile. By January, he was turning down offers from Europe.
Now he is starring on the global stage, with a move to Premier League side Nottingham Forest already agreed. Not a bad year’s work for a nobody.
Igor Jesus owes a lot to Alessandro Brito, Botafogo’s sporting director, the man behind the transfer that brought the forward back to Brazil.
As a scout for Athletico Paranaense, Brito had watched Igor Jesus a lot at youth level and rated him highly. When he arrived at Botafogo in 2022, he knew who to place at the top of his wish list.
At that point, Igor Jesus was rebuilding fitness and confidence after a long-term injury. His form as the 2023-24 season progressed — he would end it with 17 goals in all competitions — strengthened the case for signing him. Botafogo tried to get him in January 2024 but settled for a pre-contract agreement ahead of a free transfer in the summer. An offer of €10million (£8.5m; $11.7m) from another Emirati club came in before Igor Jesus had even travelled for his medical in Rio.
Botafogo turned it down. It proved to be a smart decision. Igor Jesus adapted quickly, clambering past Soares in the pecking order and registering six goals and an assist in his first seven starts. There was also a tonal shift beyond the numbers. His movement pushed opposition defences back. He drifted wide, inviting Thiago Almada and Luiz Henrique infield. Those three, plus Venezuelan playmaker Jefferson Savarino, looked like they had been playing together since they were kids.
His coach, Artur Jorge, could not hide his delight. “He’s the best forward in the country, there’s no doubt about it,” he said in October.
Dorival Junior, Brazil’s coach at the time, agreed. He threw Igor Jesus straight into his starting XI and reaped the benefits, the striker capping a fine display against Chile with a goal. “Igor gave us that presence in the area,” Dorival said. “He can act as a pivot in certain moments, but still looks to get in behind.”
Jesus brings his presence to the national team (Photo: RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP via Getty Images)
By the end of the season, he had helped Botafogo to the Brazilian championship and the Copa Libertadores. That could easily have been that. Forest bid around €30m in January, enough for Botafogo. The player, though, wanted to stay, at least until after the Club World Cup.
The start of 2025 was turbulent. Botafogo parted company with Artur Jorge and went off the boil. Igor Jesus paid the price with his Brazil place. Only with the arrival of Renato Paiva — another Portuguese coach — did things begin to pick up again.
Paiva has used Igor Jesus in a slightly different way. He plays with three fairly defensive midfielders, tasking the wide players with creative duties. There is less position-swapping, less room for improvisation.
“Under Artur, I had a lot of freedom to move around and create space for the wingers,” Igor Jesus told GloboEsporte in March. “We were always swapping positions and that made it hard for teams to mark us. Today, with Paiva, I play more as a No 9. He asks me to stay in the penalty area more, to be there to finish from rebounds and loose balls.”
If there was any ambivalence there, it has evaporated over the past fortnight. Paiva may have him playing a more conventional game, but he has done it to perfection, holding the ball up brilliantly, bringing team-mates into play, occupying defenders with his strength, darting in behind. His two goals so far — that brilliant breakaway strike against PSG, a towering header against Seattle Sounders — were the least he has deserved.
The farewell tour kicked off at the start of June when Igor Jesus played his final match at Botafogo’s Estadio Nilton Santos. It was an emotional night: fans unveiled a huge banner in his honour and clapped him off the pitch at the end of a 3-2 win over Ceara. “This has been a marvellous journey,” the 24-year-old said. “Botafogo made me believe in my potential again.”
He returned to that theme before the start of the Club World Cup, reflecting on the decisions that have led him to this point. His atypical path to the big time is not just a quirk of his story, a curious little footnote. It is the story. The way he sees it, it was the making of him.
Igor Jesus spent some of his formative years at Shabab (Photo: FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
“If I had left Brazil at 19 or 20, I think I would be nervous about playing in a competition like the Premier League,” he told GloboEsporte. “Today, I feel prepared. I’m leaving here a more experienced footballer. I’ve matured a lot. I’m sure that will help me in Europe.”
Before that, of course, there is one big job left to do. On Saturday, Botafogo face Palmeiras. Win that and the Club World Cup bracket may start to open up. The team that stunned everyone to win the Libertadores may yet have another surprise or two up its sleeve.
“I didn’t leave at the start of the year because I wanted to play in this tournament,” Igor Jesus said at the start of the month. “I’ll do my best to help this club and my team-mates. I feel that obligation.”
(Photo: YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
