Neymar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Neymar

Neymar playing for Al Hilal in 2023
Personal information
Full name	Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior
Date of birth	(1992-02-05) 5 February 1992 (age 32)
Place of birth	Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil
Height	1.75 m
Playing position	Attacking midfielder, winger
Club information
Current club	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)
National team‡
2009	Brazil U17	3	(1)
2011	Brazil U20	7	(9)
2012–2016	Brazil U23	14	(8)
2010–	Brazil	128	(79)
Honours Men's Football Representing  Brazil FIFA Confederations Cup Winner 2013 Brazil Copa América Runner-up 2021 Brazil Summer Olympics Gold 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team Silver 2012 London Team U-20 South American Championship Winner 2011 Peru
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 September 2023 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 04:10, 18 October 2023

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), known as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazil national team. A prolific goalscorer and renowned playmaker, he is regarded as one of the best players in the world. Neymar has scored at least 100 goals for three different clubs, making him one of three players to achieve this.

Early years

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior 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.

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. At 17, he signed his first full professional contract, was upgraded to the Santos first team, and began signing his first sponsorship deals.

Career

Club career

Neymar made his professional debut aged 17. He became famous when playing at Santos. He helped the club win two successive Campeonato Paulista championships, a Copa do Brasil, and the 2011 Copa Libertadores, Santos' first since 1963.

Neymar was twice named the South American Footballer of the Year, in 2011 and 2012, and soon relocated to Europe to join Barcelona. As part of Barcelona's attacking trio with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, dubbed MSN, he won the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League. He then attained a domestic double in the 2015–16 season.

Motivated to be a talisman at club level, Neymar transferred to PSG in 2017 in a move worth €222 million, making him the most expensive player ever. In France, he won four league titles, among other honours, and was voted Ligue 1 Player of the Year in his debut season. Notably, he helped PSG attain a domestic quadruple in the 2019–20 season, and led the club to its first ever Champions League Final.

In 2020-21, Neymar established himself as the highest scoring Brazilian player in Champions League history. Injuries riddled Neymar's playing time in PSG and in 2023, after six seasons, he signed for Al Hilal in a lucrative deal.

Brazil national team

With 75 goals in 121 matches for Brazil since debuting at age 18, Neymar is the second highest goalscorer for his national team, trailing Pelé. At his youth stage for Brazil, he was a key player in the victory at the 2011 South American Youth Championship, where he finished as leading goalscorer, and also attained a silver medal in men's football at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The following year, he won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, winning the Golden Ball. His participation in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2015 Copa América was cut short by injury and a suspension, respectively.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics he captained Brazil to their first Olympic gold medal in men's football. Having renounced the captaincy, he featured at the 2018 World Cup, and after missing the 2019 Copa América through injury, helped Brazil to a runner-up finish at the 2021 tournament.

Player profile

Comparisons

The media have often drawn comparisons between Neymar and Brazilian legend Pelé, as Neymar possesses similar attributes and also like Pelé came from the Santos Youth Academy and turned heads with his skill. Neymar has said that Pelé is his "role model" but also saying: "I don't like to make a comparison with Pelé". He has also been compared to compatriot Ronaldinho.

Neymar's increasing reputation led both the media and former great players to draw comparisons between Neymar and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, which Neymar has commented on saying: "Messi is above everyone, there is no use comparing me with him. He is the best player in the world and I always get inspired when I watch good football."

Personal life

Neymar expresses his Christian faith after winning the gold medal with Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Neymar has a son, Davi Lucca, born on 13 August 2011, with former girlfriend Carolina Dantas.

Interesting facts about Neymar

• At age 15, Neymar was earning 10,000 reais per month and at 16, 125,000 reais per month.
• He has a very close sibling relationship with his sister Rafaella Beckran. He tattoed her face on his arm, while Beckran tattooed her brother's eyes on her arm.
• Neymar is a Christian, and follows the Pentecostal branch of the religion.
• In addition to his native Portuguese, Neymar also speaks Spanish.
• In 2019, Forbes ranked Neymar the world's third highest-paid athlete (after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) with earnings of $105 million for the calendar year.
• Neymar appeared on the cover of Time magazine in February 2013, the first Brazilian athlete to do so.
• In April 2013, Brazilian cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa released a Monica's Gang comic book featuring a younger version of Neymar (called Neymar Jr.) as the main character.

Charity efforts

Neymar reportedly also tithes (10%) his income to his church. Each year, Neymar organises a charity match with fellow Brazilian footballer Nenê in Nenê's hometown of Jundiaí, with the purpose of raising food for needy families.

Neymar and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. He supported Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian general election.

Neymar Quotes

• "I just want to be better every day, to get better every day, not to be better than anyone else."
• "I always do as my heart tells me."
• "When we lose, we don't have to change everything but correct things by working hard."
• "I am not the type of person who lets the pressure get to him. I try to see it as my friend. I align with it to calm me down."

Awards

Neymar finished third for the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2015 and 2017, has been awarded the FIFA Puskás Award, has been named in the FIFA FIFPro World11 twice, the UEFA Team of the Year twice, and the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season three times. Off the pitch, he ranks among the world's most prominent sportsmen. SportsPro named him the most marketable athlete in the world in 2012 and 2013, and ESPN cited him as the world's fourth-most famous athlete in 2016. In 2017, Time included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2018, France Football ranked Neymar the world's third highest-paid footballer. The following year, Forbes ranked him the world's third highest-paid athlete, dropping a spot to fourth in 2020.

Outside football

Sponsorships

Neymar has signed many sponsorship deals since his reputation began to grow from the age of 17.

• In March 2011, he signed an 11-year contract with American sportswear company Nike, which ended in August 2020. Still in March 2011, Panasonic paid US$2.4 million to secure Neymar's services for two years.
• Neymar has signed with German sportswear company Puma.
• He has also signed other sponsorships from Volkswagen, Tenys Pé Baruel, Lupo, Ambev, Claro, Unilever and Santander.

Media

Neymar at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey during a match between New York Red Bulls and LA Galaxy in 2011

Neymar was featured on the front covers of the video games Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 on the North American version. Neymar joined Cristiano Ronaldo as a featured cover athlete. Neymar also features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series, with the trailer for FIFA 18 showing him in his PSG home jersey. He appeared alongside Cristiano Ronaldo on the Champions and Ultimate Edition packs for FIFA 19, where Neymar's "Hang Loose" goal celebration also features in the game.

In May 2013, SportsPro magazine named Neymar as the most marketable athlete on the planet for the second consecutive year. He topped the list ahead of Lionel Messi, Rory McIlroy, Usain Bolt and Cristiano Ronaldo, among other sportspeople. The list measures the monetary value, the age, the force in domestic markets, the charisma and their market potential in the next three years.

In March 2015, Neymar had the fourth highest social media rank in the world among sportspeople, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and David Beckham, with 52 million Facebook fans. He has over 150 million Instagram followers, the third highest for a sportsperson (after Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi), and inside the top 10 most followed people. In ESPN's list of active sportspeople in 2016, Neymar was ranked the fourth most famous athlete in the world. In April 2017, Neymar was included in the Time 100, Time magazine's list of the most influential people in the world. In 2019, ESPN again ranked him the world's fourth most famous athlete.

To mark the World Cup commencing in Brazil, in June 2014, Neymar appeared with supermodel Gisele Bündchen on the front cover of Vogue's Brazilian edition. In November 2014, Neymar appeared in FIFA's "11 against Ebola" campaign with a selection of top football players from around the world, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Xavi and Didier Drogba. Under the slogan "Together, we can beat Ebola", FIFA's campaign was done in conjunction with the Confederation of African Football and health experts, with the players holding up eleven messages to raise awareness of the disease and ways to combat it.

In collaboration with DAZN, in 2019 Neymar appeared in The Making Of series, documentaries which relives the significant games that helped define football's greatest modern icons, with Neymar recounting his performance for Santos against Flamengo in 2011 when he scored that year's FIFA Puskás Award for Goal of the Year, and also the film Neymar and the Line of King which covers Neymar's journey in becoming one of Brazil's top players.

Most recently, he had signed a deal with Facebook Gaming. He was also the subject of a 2022 Netflix documentary series titled Neymar: The Perfect Chaos.

Music

Neymar has become an icon in promoting Brazilian modern pop music, particularly Música sertaneja. The video in which Neymar dances in the Santos locker room dancing in front of teammates carrying his recorder making the round of the players and making them react to the tune of Michel Teló's hit "Ai se eu te pego!" went viral. He made a point of performing his dance antics to the song after scoring goals in football games and appeared live with Teló in one of the latter's concerts. He also supported sertanejo singer Gusttavo Lima performing live with Lima on renditions of the singer's hits "Balada" and "Fazer Beber".

In 2012, he made cameo appearances in the music video for yet another sertanejo hit "Eu Quero Tchu, Eu Quero Tcha" by João Lucas & Marcelo. In 2013, Neymar appeared on a rap music video, "País do Futebol" by MC Guimê.

Television and films

Career statistics

Club

International

Neymar against Croatia at 2014 FIFA World Cup. He scored two goals in the match.

Honours

Santos

• Copa do Brasil: 2010
• Campeonato Paulista: 2010, 2011, 2012; runner-up: 2009
• Copa Libertadores: 2011
• Recopa Sudamericana: 2012

Barcelona

• La Liga: 2014–15, 2015–16
• Copa del Rey: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
• Supercopa de España: 2013
• UEFA Champions League: 2014–15
• FIFA Club World Cup: 2015

Paris Saint-Germain

• Ligue 1: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22, 2022–23
• Coupe de France: 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21; runner-up: 2018–19
• Coupe de la Ligue: 2017–18, 2019–20
• Trophée des Champions: 2018, 2020, 2022
• UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2019–20

Al-Hilal

• Saudi Pro League: 2023–24

Brazil U20

• South American U-20 Championship: 2011

Brazil Olympic

• Summer Olympics: 2016; runner-up: 2012

Brazil

• FIFA Confederations Cup: 2013
• Copa América runner-up: 2021

Individual

Neymar with the Golden Ball award for best player at the 2013 Confederations Cup

Awards

• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year: 2010, 2011, 2012
• Chuteira de Ouro: 2010, 2011, 2012
• Bola de Prata: 2010, 2011
• Bola de Ouro: 2011
• Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Best Player: 2011
• World Soccer Young Player of the Year: 2011
• Copa Libertadores Most Valuable Player: 2011
• FIFA Club World Cup Bronze Ball: 2011
• South American Footballer of the Year: 2011, 2012
• FIFA Puskás Award: 2011
• Bola de Ouro Hors Concours: 2012
• FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball: 2013
• FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Shoe: 2013
• FIFA Confederations Cup Dream Team: 2013
• FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 2014
• FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2014
• Samba Gold: 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022
• UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2014–15, 2019–20, 2020–21
• La Liga Best World Player: 2014–15
• La Liga Player of the Month: November 2015
• UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year: 2017–18
• UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21
• UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: January 2020, August 2022
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2015, 2020
• FIFA FIFPRO World 11: 2015, 2017
• IFFHS Men's World Team: 2017
• ESM Team of the Year: 2017–18
• IFFHS CONMEBOL Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
• Copa América Team of the Tournament: 2021

Performances

• Copa do Brasil top scorer: 2010
• South American U-20 Championship top scorer: 2011
• Campeonato Paulista top scorer: 2012
• Copa Libertadores top scorer: 2012 ^{(tied with Matías Alustiza)}
• Copa Libertadores 2nd top assist provider: 2012
• Copa del Rey top scorer: 2014–15
• UEFA Champions League top scorer: 2014–15 ^{(tied with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi)}
• FIFA Club World Cup top assist provider: 2015
• UEFA Champions League top assist provider: 2015–16, 2016–17

Images for kids

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  Neymar training ahead of the 2011 Copa Libertadores final against Peñarol

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  Neymar during his unveiling at Barcelona in June 2013

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  Neymar playing for Barcelona against Villarreal in La Liga, 1 February 2015. Neymar opened the scoring in Barcelona's 3–2 win.

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  Barcelona fans prior to the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final in Berlin holding up pictures of the attacking trio, Messi, Suárez and Neymar (MSN)

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  Neymar playing for PSG against Lille in February 2018

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  Neymar taking a penalty against Lille during a Ligue 1 match in 2020

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  Neymar (right) with Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi against Marseille during Le Classique, October 2021

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  Neymar (middle) celebrating a goal with PSG team-mates Messi (left) and Mbappé (right)

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  Neymar at a press conference for the Brazil national team in August 2010. He made his international debut that month aged 18.

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  Neymar celebrates his goal for Brazil against Scotland, on 27 March 2011, with André Santos and Ramires.

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  Neymar preparing to take a free-kick from 30 yards out against Belarus at Old Trafford in Manchester during the 2012 Summer Olympics

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  Neymar playing against Spain's Gerard Piqué in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup Final

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  Neymar preparing to strike the winning penalty kick for Brazil against Germany in the Olympic final

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  Neymar celebrates scoring against Costa Rica at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

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  Neymar (right) greets future teammate Lionel Messi after the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup Final. As a teenager, Neymar was inspired by Messi.

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  Neymar, playing for Brazil in 2011, has been compared to compatriots Pelé and Ronaldinho.

See also

In Spanish: Neymar para niños

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
• List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
• List of most expensive association football transfers