May 1st, 1994 is remembered by many in Brazil as the date of the fatal accident of idol Ayrton Senna, who crashed his Williams at over 300 km/h on the Imola circuit in Italy, bringing the country to a standstill.
But for Thomas Law, who was 12 years old at the time, the memory is more personal. That Sunday afternoon, he entered the Morumbi field hand in hand with Muller and Zetti, São Paulo's star players at the time. That day, São Paulo was defeated 3-2 by Palmeiras.
Today, at 44 years old, Law is at the helm of Ibrachina Futebol Clube, a club-company founded by him and his brother, Henrique Law, which has become a sensation in the current Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior, the main Brazilian tournament for young athletes.
"I've been passionate about football since I was a child. I have a very vivid memory of the day I stepped onto the field with my idols from São Paulo. But today I'm very focused on Ibrachina's development. I'm very happy with what our boys are doing," says Law, in an interview with NeoFeed .
The team made history by reaching the Copinha semi-finals, their best position since they began participating in the tournament five years ago. In the competition, the team eliminated Atlético-MG, Santo André, Internacional, and Palmeiras. They only stopped against Law's favorite team.
On Thursday night, January 22nd, at Morumbi Stadium, São Paulo defeated Ibrachina 4-1. Now, the São Paulo team will face Cruzeiro in the final on Sunday, January 25th, the city's anniversary, at 11 am, at Arena Mercado Livre Pacaembu.
The club emerged in 2020 as a sports arm of the Brazil-China Sociocultural Institute (Ibrachina), created two years earlier to promote connections between businesspeople from both countries and to facilitate exchanges in various sectors.
“The institute was created from conversations with professors from USP [University of São Paulo], during my master's degree in international law. And many people said that I should have an association that could debate and bring together Brazil and China,” he says.
In this sense, football emerged as an opportunity to develop social projects aimed at young people from the Heliópolis community in the South Zone and São Mateus in the East Zone of São Paulo. Today, 120 teenagers participate in the sports activities organized by the institute, ranging from under-15 to under-20, with a focus on high performance.
But, in the case of the club, it's not just a matter of football passion or social action. The club is a business. And like any company, it needs to make a profit. The goal is to develop citizens and athletes, but above all, to generate revenue.
The team's business model consists of revenue from event rentals, shirt sponsorships, and social projects, in addition to the main format, which is to guarantee the club a cash share from the sale of a promising young player.
And there's already a great prospect of a comeback. Riquelme Fillipi, who is now 19 years old, is one of the main prospects at the moment. He started at age 15 at Ibrachina and immediately caught the attention of Palmeiras, where he transferred in 2021.
The athlete recently moved up to the first team and is seen as a jewel of the São Paulo club. There are already offers from abroad. And that's where Ibrachina comes in. The club, managed by Leila Pereira, rejected a €15 million offer from Zenit, Russia, in recent days. The fact is that, as soon as he is sold, whatever the value, Ibrachina will receive 20%.
Another player who has already proven successful is the 22-year-old midfielder Kauã Oliveira, who played in the Copinha (São Paulo Junior Cup) in 2024 for Ibrachina and then went on loan to Sporting Lisbon. In 2025, the European club activated a purchase option clause. The Portuguese club paid €500,000.
“The Copinha has a very positive impact on developing athletes. It’s a great window for transfers to major clubs in Brazil and abroad,” he says. Ibrachina has the “training club” seal, granted by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
The club already has its own home, unlike many other major national teams. In 2020, Law managed to buy a 12,000 square meter (m²) area in the Mooca neighborhood, in the East Zone, where he built the Arena Ibrachina, with all the infrastructure to also serve as a training center.
"I bought it from a company that was in bankruptcy protection. It was a great opportunity that arose. And I managed to build a field with the official FIFA dimensions. Today the property is ours," says Law. He did not reveal which company he bought the land from.
No relation to the father's past.
The president of Ibrachina is the son of Law Kin Chong, who was born in Hong Kong and became a naturalized Brazilian citizen, and who built a real estate and commercial empire in the Rua 25 de Março region of São Paulo.
In the early 2000s, Chong was identified by the Federal Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office as a suspect in smuggling and money laundering. He was even targeted by the Piracy Parliamentary Inquiry Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in 2004 and arrested.
Without any connection to that episode, the president of Ibrachina even gets annoyed when any doubt arises about that period and assures that there is no relation between his current initiative and the past episode that marked his family.
The businessman, who is a lawyer and works in the real estate rental business, was born in São Paulo in 1981. According to Law, Ibrachina is solely his and his brother's responsibility. His father has no involvement whatsoever in either the institute or the club.
"It's not fair to penalize future generations for what happened in the past. That's not fair. Making this association is a disservice to people who want to do good for Brazil. A disservice to a youth development club that meets the CBF's requirements," he states.
Law does not reveal the club's revenue, but says that the Ibrachina FC company is already starting to generate returns. He assures, however, that he is in no hurry to achieve a more comfortable financial position for the club. "It's a long-term project. We see the assets, which are the young players, coming and going. The Chinese philosophy shows that it's important to have planning, organization, and long-term thinking," he states.
Now, he believes that Ibrachina will be able to profit from the sale, in the coming months, of the boys who played in this year's Copinha (youth tournament). But he's not afraid that the team will lose quality with the possible dismantling. "We will continue to develop athletes. New stars will emerge. These boys are worth their weight in gold." Literally.
