Neymar

For other uses, see Neymar (disambiguation).

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is da Silva and the second or paternal family name is Santos. "Júnior" is a generational suffix used for someone whose name is the same as their father, like "Jr." in English.

Neymar Jr.
Neymar playing for Al Hilal in 2023
Personal information
Full name Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior[1]
Date of birth (1992-02-05) 5 February 1992 (age 32)[1]
Place of birth Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil[2]
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Left winger, attacking midfielder, forward
Team information
Current team
 Al Hilal
Number 10
Youth career
1999–2003 Portuguesa Santista
2003–2009 Santos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2013 Santos 177 (107)
2013–2017 Barcelona 123 (68)
2017–2023 Paris Saint-Germain 112 (82)
2023– Al Hilal 3 (0)
International career‡
2009 Brazil U17 3 (1)
2011 Brazil U20 7 (9)
2012–2016 Brazil U23 14 (8)
2010– Brazil 128 (79)
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Brazil
FIFA Confederations Cup
Winner 2013 Brazil
Copa América
Runner-up 2021 Brazil
Summer Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
Silver medal – second place 2012 London Team
South American U-20 Championship
Winner 2011 Peru

Signature
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 September 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 04:10, 18 October 2023

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (English pronunciation: /Neymar/ ⓘ; born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior or simply Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left winger, attacking midfielder or forward for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Brazil national team. Widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation, he is known for his skills, dribbling, playmaking, and finishing.[8] Neymar is one of the few players to have scored at least 100 goals for three different clubs. He is the highest-scoring Brazilian in the UEFA Champions League and is also Brazil's all-time top goalscorer.

Neymar made his professional debut with Santos in 2009. In 2011, he helped them win their first Copa Libertadores in nearly 50 years.[9] In 2013, he joined Barcelona and became part of an attacking trio with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, dubbed MSN. Winning the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League in the trio's first season, Neymar was the joint-top goalscorer of the Champions League campaign and top goalscorer of the Copa del Rey. In his final season, Neymar reached 100 goals for Barcelona and set the record for most assists in a Champions League campaign. Motivated to assume focal responsibility, Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2017 for a transfer worth €222 million, making him the most expensive player ever.[note 1] He largely contributed to PSG's continuation of Ligue 1 title dominance and PSG reaching its first Champions League final, whilst establishing himself as one of the club's highest ever scorers. Continuing injuries caused PSG to sell him in 2023 to Al Hilal for €90 million, a Saudi Pro League record transfer.

At 18, Neymar debuted for Brazil. He is the nation's all-time top goalscorer, with 79 goals in 128 matches. He won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, winning the Golden Ball. In the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he was named in the Dream Team. He captained Brazil to their first Olympic gold medal in men's football in the 2016 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2012 edition. He helped Brazil finish runner-up to Argentina in the 2021 Copa América and was jointly awarded Best Player. In the 2022 World Cup, he became the third Brazilian player to score in three World Cups after Pelé and Ronaldo. Neymar has won a record six Samba Gold awards.

Neymar was named in the FIFA FIFPro World11, the UEFA Team of the Year twice, and the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season three times. He finished third for the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2015 and 2017 and won the FIFA Puskás Award in 2011. SportsPro named Neymar the world's most marketable athlete in 2012 and 2013. In 2017, Time included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[12] France Football ranked Neymar the world's third-highest-paid footballer of 2018. Forbes ranked him the world's third-highest-paid athlete of 2019,[13] and dropped him to fourth in 2020.[14]

  1. ^ a b c "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ – Squad List: Brazil (BRA)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Player Profile – Neymar Jr". Sportycious. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  3. ^ Cox, Michael. "Neymar, record breaker: one of football's true greats". The Athletic. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Brazil boss on Neymar: One of greatest in history". ESPN.com. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  5. ^ Pettigrove, Jason. "Why Neymar Is the 3rd-Best Player in the World on Current Form". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  6. ^ Ruthu (22 March 2024). "Gerard Pique Shakes Up the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo GOAT Debate With An Unexpected Neymar Over CR7 Twist". EssentiallySports. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  7. ^ Stewart, Ben (7 April 2023). "Comparing Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar records after 700 games". Planet Football. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  8. ^ [3][4][5][6][7]
  9. ^ "Neymar Jr, Santos years: The making of a future great". 19 June 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  10. ^ "FC Barcelona communiqué on Neymar Jr" (Press release). FC Barcelona. 3 August 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  11. ^ "Neymar: Paris St-Germain sign Barcelona forward for world record 222m euros". BBC. 3 August 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Lionel Messi edges out Cristiano Ronaldo to head Forbes top 100 highest paid athletes". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  14. ^ "The World's Highest-Paid Athletes 2020 - Forbes". Forbes. 21 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2020.


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