Neymar

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: [nejˈmaʁ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ ˈsɐ̃tuz ˈʒuni.oʁ] ; born 5 February 1992), simply known as Neymar Júnior (shortened to Neymar Jr) 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 (43) and assist provider (33) in the UEFA Champions League, ranks second for the all-time South American men's top goalscorers in international football (79), and was the all-time top assist provider in international football (59) 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 (2011–2020) 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 10000 reais per month and at 16, 125000 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. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million). 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.