Neymar
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, simply known as Neymar Júnior or mononymously as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Santos, which he captains, and the Brazil national team. Known for his dribbling, technical ability, playmaking, and finishing, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He is one of only five players to have scored 100 goals with three different clubs, both the all-time Brazilian top goalscorer and assist provider in the UEFA Champions League, ranks second for the all-time South American men's top goalscorers in international football, and was the all-time top assist provider in international football for two years. He has scored over 400 senior career goals and registered over 250 assists for club and country.
Neymar made his professional debut with Santos in 2009 and won the Copa Libertadores in 2011, scoring in the finals. In 2013, Barcelona signed him and he soon became part of a dominant attacking trio with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez—known as MSN. In 2014–15, Neymar won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League, finishing as the top goalscorer of both that season's Champions League and the Copa del Rey. In the following season, he helped Barcelona win the double. In 2017, he left the club to join Paris Saint-Germain, becoming the most expensive player in history after his €222 million release clause was activated. From 2018 onwards, injuries hampered Neymar's career, causing limited game time. Despite this, he was instrumental to PSG retrieving the Ligue 1 title in his debut season, led them to their first-ever Champions League final in 2020, became one of the their all-time top goalscorers, and won four more Ligue 1 titles. In 2023, he joined Saudi club Al-Hilal before returning to Santos in January 2025.
At 18, Neymar debuted for Brazil and has since become the nation's second-most-capped player, only trailing Cafu. He is the nation's all-time top goalscorer, with 79 goals in 128 matches. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in men's football, Neymar helped Brazil reach the final, ultimately receiving the Olympic silver medal. In the following year, he won the FIFA Confederations Cup and received the Golden Ball. In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he was named in the Dream Team and received the Bronze Boot. By the age of 22, Neymar had scored 40 goals for Brazil, already entering the country's top five goalscorers. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he captained Brazil to their first Olympic gold medal in men's football. In the 2021 Copa América, he was focal to Brazil's runners-up finish and was jointly awarded Best Player. Two years later, he surpassed Pelé's 52-year long record as Brazil's all-time top goalscorer.
Neymar was named in both the FIFA FIFPro World11 and the UEFA Team of the Year twice. He has received the FIFA Puskás Award, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Best Player, the La Liga Best American Player, the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, and the Copa Libertadores Best Player. Internationally, he received the South American Footballer of the Year twice and was runner-up for the IFFHS's CONMEBOL The Best Man Player of the Decade award. Neymar’s zero Ballon d’Or wins is often attributed to the fact that his career coincided with the peak of the Messi and Ronaldo dominance, finishing third behind them in 2015 and 2017, as well as his recurring injuries in the following years.
Early life
Neymar was born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, to Neymar Santos Sr. and Nadine da Silva and had a Christian upbringing. He inherited his name from his father, who is a former footballer and became his son's advisor as Neymar's talents began to grow. Neymar comments on his father's role: "My father has been by my side since I was little. He takes care of things, my finances and my family." Growing up, Neymar combined his love of futsal with street football. Neymar said that futsal had a massive influence on him growing up, helping him develop his technique, speed of thought and ability to perform moves in tight spaces. He was inspired by Robinho—his "idol"— Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, and Wayne Rooney.In 2003, Neymar moved with his family to São Vicente, where he began playing for youth side Portuguesa Santista. Then, later in 2003, they moved to Santos, where Neymar joined Santos. With the success of his youth career and added income, the family bought their first property, a house next to Vila Belmiro, Santos' home stadium. Their quality of family life improved, as at age 15, Neymar was earning reais per month and at 16, reais per month. At 17, he signed his first full professional contract, was upgraded to the Santos first team, and began signing his first sponsorship deals.
Club career
Santos
Youth
Neymar began playing football at an early age and he was soon spotted by Santos who offered him a contract in 2003; where he was inducted into their youth academy, which has, in the past, produced Brazilian internationals like Coutinho, Clodoaldo, Diego, Elano and Alex. He also joined the likes of Pepe, Pelé and Robinho in starting out his career at the club, nicknamed Peixe. While in the youth academy, Neymar met Paulo Henrique Ganso, becoming good friends in the process. Aged 14, Neymar travelled to Spain for tryouts with the Real Madrid youth team. He did not stay in Madrid, however, as his father decided at the time that he preferred the young prodigy to keep growing up while playing at Santos.2009: Debut season
Neymar made his professional debut on 7 March 2009, one month after turning 17 years old. He was brought on for the last thirty minutes, in a 2–1 win against Oeste. The following week he scored his first goal for Santos against Mogi Mirim. One month later, on 11 April, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win against Palmeiras in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg. In the final, however, Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians. In his first season, Neymar racked up 14 goals in 48 games.2010: State league and Copa do Brasil titles
He continued his rapid development in 2010, and, on 15 April, he scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 rout of Guarani in the qualifying stages of the Brazilian Cup. Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games, including two in the second leg of the finals against Santo André, the club were crowned champions. Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition, and his performances for the club drew comparisons to other Brazilians, including Robinho, Alexandre Pato, and Pelé.In the 2010 summer transfer window, Santos rejected a £12 million bid for him from Premier League team West Ham United, and later an offer from Chelsea, reported to be in the region of £20 million. Despite the unwillingness of Santos to sell and Neymar himself stating: "I'm focused only on Santos", his agent, Wagner Ribeiro, indicated that Neymar's career was elsewhere, stating: "He wants to become the best player in the world. The chances of him doing that while playing in Brazil are zero." One year later Neymar said, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, that he had been happy with Chelsea's interest in him as it was a "dream" of his "to play in Europe", while also stating that at the time it had been the right decision to stay in Brazil.
On 5 May 2010, Neymar scored a goal in the 3–1 Copa do Brasil quarterfinals victory over Atletico-MG. He missed the first leg of the semifinals against Grêmio due to a suspension but returned for the second leg and Santos advanced 6-5 on aggregate. In the first leg of the finals against Vitória, Neymar scored a goal and missed a penalty in a 2–0 win for Peixe. Although Santos lost the return leg 2–1, the 3–2 aggregate score was enough for Santos to lift the Copa do Brasil for the first time in its history, and Neymar finished as the tournament's top scorer with 11 goals.On 30 November 2010, Santos sold a 5% share of future transfer fees that he would receive to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A., for R$ 3,549,900. The previous year, his family had sold a 40% stake in Neymar's sporting rights to the DIS Esporte group, who had been a long-term strategic partner of the club.
In the league, Neymar shined, scoring 17 goals, including a hat trick against Goiás and a brace against Atletico-MG. He finished second in the top scoring charts, behind Gremio's Jonas. Neymar concluded the season with 42 goals in 60 matches in all competitions. Despite these impressive numbers, problems had been identified, namely Neymar's apparent taste for diving when tackled, rather than attempting to continue his run, and his attitude. The latter came to the forefront during a league match against Atlético Goianiense, on 15 September 2010, when Santos' manager, Dorival Júnior, appointed another player to take the penalty awarded for a foul on Neymar. His decision was based on the fact that Neymar had missed a crucial penalty during the Copa do Brasil final that year, even if Santos went on to win. Reacting to this, Neymar turned his back on his manager, had to be calmed down by a linesman and argued with his captain, Edu Dracena. The fallout from this event was that Dorival Júnior wished to have Neymar suspended for two weeks, but the board sided with the player and promptly sacked the manager, with Neymar later apologising. In December 2010, aged just 18, Neymar came third for the 2010 South American Footballer of the Year, behind Andrés D'Alessandro and Juan Sebastián Verón.
2011: Copa Libertadores title, FIFA Club World Cup runner-up and Puskás Award
Despite scoring only four goals in the 2011 Campeonato Paulista, Neymar scored crucial goals during the 2011 season; he scored the only goal of the quarterfinals matchup against Ponte Preta, and then scored the winning goal in the second leg of the finals against Corinthians to help his club clinch back-to-back state titles. Neymar scored six goals during Santos' run to the 2011 Copa Libertadores Finals, tying him for third top goalscorer, including the clinching goal of Santos' 4–3 aggregate win over Cerro Porteño in the semi-finals. In the two-legged final, Santos faced Uruguayan side Peñarol and drew the first leg 0–0 in Montevideo. At home in the second leg, Neymar opened the scoring in the 46th minute as Santos held on for a 2–1 win and Neymar won Man of the Match honours. The win brought Santos their first Copa Libertadores triumph since 1963, when Pelé was playing for the club.On 27 July 2011, Neymar scored his first goals of that year's Campeonato Brasileiro, scoring two goals in a thrilling match against Ronaldinho's Flamengo, but could not prevent defeat for his team as they lost 5–4. His first goal, a spectacular solo dribble, later won the 2011 FIFA Puskás Award. In September 2011, Santos club president Luís Ribeiro threatened to report Real Madrid to FIFA following reports that they had attempted to sign Neymar to a pre-contract agreement, and denied that such an agreement was in place. On 29 October, Neymar scored four goals and had two disallowed in a 4–1 victory over Atletico Paranaense. On 9 November, Neymar and Santos agreed to a contract extension that would see the player stay with the club until after the 2014 World Cup. The deal reportedly increased Neymar's wages by 50%, to the levels that top European clubs would be paying him.
File:Neymar Junior the Future of Brazil 2.jpg|thumb|Neymar on the ball against Barcelona during the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup final
On 14 December, Neymar scored the opening goal for Santos as they defeated Kashiwa Reysol 3–1 in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup in Toyota, Japan. Scoring from 20 meters, his goal was a curled shot into the top corner after evading the defender by deftly switching the ball from his right foot to his left. It was widely praised, being described as "sublime". The final against Barcelona was dubbed as a showdown between Neymar and Messi. Santos coach, Muricy Ramalho, was asked about how his player compares to Messi: "The two are similar, but Neymar is a bit more special. His style alternates the direction of the ball as he carries it Neymar is unpredictable. You don't find anyone in the world who does what he can with the ball." Neymar made a very small impact in the final against Barcelona on 18 December, where Santos were defeated 4–0. After the defeat, Neymar said, "Barcelona deserved to win. They are the best team in the world and we learned an important lesson". Neymar was awarded the tournament's Bronze Ball as the third-best player, behind Xavi and Messi.
On 31 December, Neymar won the 2011 South American Footballer of the Year award for the first time, by a record margin, following in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, Romário, Pelé and Zico.