Neymar

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born February 5, 1992) is a Brazilian forward whose career has carried two distinct identities: the phenomenon Brazilians watched grow up in real time, and the European superstar whose brightest years were stitched together between injuries, surgeries, and short windows of pure genius. He is Brazil’s all-time leading men’s goalscorer with 79 goals in 128 caps, a 2015 UEFA Champions League winner with Barcelona, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist who captained the Rio squad and scored the winning penalty in the final, and once the most expensive footballer on earth. His €222 million move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017 is still the largest transfer fee in the sport’s history, and by a margin so wide it may never be broken.

The Santos years made his name: Copa Libertadores champion at 19, Puskás Award winner at 19, two-time South American Footballer of the Year before he left for Europe. The Barcelona years made him a superstar. The MSN front three he formed with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez remains the coldest attacking unit of the modern era, and the 2014–15 treble (La Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League) was the best version of Barcelona in the post-Guardiola decade. What he never got at PSG, and has never gotten anywhere, is the Ballon d’Or. He finished third in 2015 and third again in 2017, and his peak window closed faster than anyone saw coming. He has been injured for most of the last five seasons.

He is now back where he started. After an 18-month stay at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, where a ruptured ACL suffered playing for Brazil against Uruguay on October 17, 2023, destroyed most of his contract before it began, Neymar returned to Santos in January 2025 and signed a contract extension on January 6, 2026, keeping him at Vila Belmiro through the end of the year. The motive is explicit: the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti has not called him up since taking charge in 2025, and has said selection will be based on availability, fitness, and form, not reputation. At 34, Neymar is writing the last chapter of his career in the same stadium where the first one started, trying to give Ancelotti a reason.

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Quick Facts

Featured Video

Video courtesy of FC Barcelona’s official YouTube channel.

Early Life & Education

Neymar was born on February 5, 1992, in Mogi das Cruzes, a city on the eastern outskirts of greater São Paulo, the first of two children of Neymar da Silva Santos Sr., a former lower-division player who would later become his son’s manager, and Nadine Gonçalves, a housewife. The family’s early years were lean. When Neymar was a few months old the family was in a car accident in which his father covered the baby’s body with his own, and Neymar has spoken openly about the stretch of his childhood in which the family moved between his grandparents’ house and a small apartment in Praia Grande, on the São Paulo coast, while his father worked night shifts.

Futsal was the making of him. Every great Brazilian technical player of his generation came through it, and in a small, fast, walled game the only survival skill is dribbling. By 11 he was playing for Portuguesa Santista’s futsal side. Santos FC’s scouts had been watching him since he was seven, and when they finally signed him to the youth system in 2003 the family moved to be near the club. Pelé’s old side, which had not produced a globally marketable superstar since Robinho, put its entire youth marketing apparatus behind the kid, and by 14 Real Madrid had already tried to sign him.

He skipped most of the lower categories and signed his first professional contract with Santos in 2009, at 17. Formal education ended early; there was no European academy route for him, no La Masia or Ajax finishing school. The Vila Belmiro turf was his classroom, and the Santos coaching staff (led at various points by Dorival Júnior, a coach he would reunite with two decades later, and Muricy Ramalho) built the confidence and improvisational habits that would define his game long after he left Brazil.

Career Highlights and Milestones

His four seasons in the Santos first team, from 2009 through mid-2013, were a sustained youth revelation. He scored 136 goals in 225 appearances, won three consecutive Campeonato Paulista titles (2010, 2011, 2012), the 2010 Copa do Brasil, and in 2011 the Copa Libertadores, Santos’s first continental crown since the Pelé-era 1963 run. He also won the 2011 FIFA Puskás Award for a weaving solo goal against Flamengo, was twice named South American Footballer of the Year, and became the face of Brazil’s buildup to the 2014 World Cup on home soil. European clubs circled constantly; Santos and the Brazilian government effectively strong-armed him into staying until 2013.

Barcelona ended the hold in the summer of 2013. The MSN era that followed was the most productive attacking partnership of the 2010s: in 2014–15, Neymar, Messi, and Suárez combined for 122 goals in all competitions and swept La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League. Neymar was joint top scorer of that Champions League campaign with 10 goals, shared the Copa del Rey Pichichi, and finished third in the Ballon d’Or behind Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Two summers later, with Barcelona a diminished force and Neymar already being positioned internally as Messi’s heir, PSG activated his €222 million release clause. It was (and remains) the largest transfer fee ever paid for a footballer. The bet was that Neymar would win the Ballon d’Or in Paris as the undisputed No. 1. He never did.

PSG delivered domestic trophies in bulk: five Ligue 1 titles across six seasons, three Coupe de France, four Trophée des Champions, and a run to PSG’s first-ever Champions League final in 2020 (lost 1–0 to Bayern Munich behind closed doors during the pandemic). The European prize the club signed him to win never came, and his fitness never held. He missed 119 matches for PSG over six seasons, primarily to recurring ankle and metatarsal injuries, and played a full 30-game league season only once. A €90 million move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal followed in August 2023, with a contract reportedly worth roughly €150 million per year. Five matches into the deal he tore his ACL and meniscus playing for Brazil against Uruguay on October 17, 2023. He played only seven senior matches for Al-Hilal in total before the contract was mutually terminated in January 2025.

The Santos return has been the quiet, familiar version of his career. Injuries and load management kept him to 30 games in 2025, with 12 goals and six assists, but he scored five goals in the club’s final five league matches to drag Santos clear of relegation and secure a 12th-place finish. On January 6, 2026, he signed a contract extension keeping him at the club through December. A minor meniscus procedure on his left knee on December 22, 2025, was described as low-risk. Brazil’s Carlo Ancelotti, appointed in 2025 as the first foreign-born manager in the Seleção’s history, has not called Neymar up and has been explicit that selection for the 2026 World Cup will be based on fitness and form. Brazil plays Morocco, Haiti, and Scotland in Group C. The World Cup is the one major trophy missing from Neymar’s résumé, and he has openly framed it as the reason he is still playing.

Selected Career Highlights

• 2009 (March 7): Professional debut for Santos at 17, against Oeste
• 2010–2012: 3× Campeonato Paulista champion with Santos (consecutive)
• 2010: Copa do Brasil winner with Santos
• 2011: Copa Libertadores winner with Santos (club’s first since 1963)
• 2011: FIFA Puskás Award (solo goal vs. Flamengo)
• 2011, 2012: South American Footballer of the Year (consecutive)
• 2013 (June): €57 million transfer from Santos to FC Barcelona
• 2013: FIFA Confederations Cup champion with Brazil, winning the Golden Ball as tournament MVP
• 2014–15: UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and Copa del Rey treble with Barcelona
• 2015, 2017: Third place in the Ballon d’Or
• 2016: Olympic Gold with Brazil at Rio 2016 as captain, scoring the winning penalty in the final against Germany
• 2017 (August): €222 million world-record transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain
• 2018–2023: 5× Ligue 1 champion with PSG
• 2020: UEFA Champions League final with PSG (runner-up)
• 2023 (September 12): Surpasses Pelé as Brazil’s all-time men’s leading goalscorer with his 78th international goal, against Bolivia
• 2023 (October 17): Ruptures ACL and meniscus playing for Brazil against Uruguay; out more than 12 months
• 2025 (January): Returns to Santos after 12 years in Europe and Saudi Arabia
• 2026 (January 6): Signs contract extension with Santos through end of 2026

Major Recognition

• Brazil’s all-time leading men’s goalscorer (79 goals in 128 caps)
• UEFA Champions League winner 2014–15 (Barcelona)
• Olympic gold medalist, Rio 2016, as Brazil captain
• FIFA Confederations Cup champion and Golden Ball winner, 2013
• Third place in the Ballon d’Or (2015, 2017) and in The Best FIFA Men’s Player (2017)
• 6× Samba de Ouro, a record for the best Brazilian footballer in Europe
• Copa América runner-up 2021, co-winner of the tournament’s Best Player award with Lionel Messi
• Multiple FIFA FIFPro World XI selections
• 2011 FIFA Puskás Award
• Player Career Award, Globe Soccer Awards 2024

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Awards and Accolades

Career Stats & Records

Apps = Appearances across all club competitions for the season; Goals and Assists across all club competitions. Asterisks (*) indicate league-leading numbers. Selected seasons shown. Career club totals exceed 590 appearances and approximately 370 goals across Santos, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Al-Hilal (through end of 2025 season).

Club & National Team History

Club Career

National Team Career

Net Worth, Income, & Lifestyle

Social Media & Online Presence

Fan communities on social media (unofficial)

NOTE: In addition to any official accounts listed above, an enormous global ecosystem of fan-run pages, clip accounts, statistical tracker accounts, and dedicated highlight pages exists across all platforms in dozens of languages. Some of the largest unofficial Neymar Jr. fan accounts have followings in the millions. These are not confirmed to be affiliated with Neymar or his management. Links and usernames can change at any time.

Trivia & Lesser-Known Facts

• His given name Neymar comes from his father, who is also named Neymar. Brazilians almost universally refer to him as “Neymar Jr.” or simply “Ney”.
• He grew up on futsal rather than 11-a-side football and has repeatedly credited the walled indoor game for his dribbling, close control, and first-touch habits. Pelé, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, and nearly every great Brazilian attacker of the last half-century came through the same pipeline.
• When Barcelona activated his contract in 2013, Santos sent him off with a farewell ceremony at the Estádio Urbano Caldeira (Vila Belmiro) that featured a roaring standing ovation and tears from both Neymar and his father. He returned to the same stadium as a Santos player 12 years later.
• He runs one of the most successful non-football business ventures of any active Brazilian athlete in NR Sports, a sports marketing agency overseen by his father that handles a significant part of his commercial and contract business.
• His founding of Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr. in his hometown of Praia Grande has reached thousands of children through sport and education programs, and it is one of the largest athlete-run nonprofits in Brazil.
• The 2017 PSG transfer, at €222 million, was so large it effectively reset the global transfer market and forced UEFA and FIFA to reexamine Financial Fair Play rules. It remains the world record transfer fee nine years later, with no other fee approaching the halfway mark.

Quotes

“Santos is my place. Here I am at home, safe and happy. And it is with you that I want to achieve the rest of my dreams.”

– Neymar, video announcement of his contract extension with Santos (January 6, 2026)

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Saudi league is better than the French.”

– Neymar, on joining Al-Hilal and the emerging quality of the Saudi Pro League (August 2023)

“My name is already written in football history. I still have more to give.”

– Neymar, after receiving the Player Career Award at the Globe Soccer Awards, Dubai (December 2024)

“2025 was a special and challenging year for me: a time of joy and of overcoming obstacles that I was only able to face thanks to your love.”

– Neymar, open letter to Santos supporters on his contract renewal (January 2026)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How old is Neymar?
A: He was born on February 5, 1992, in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil. He is 34 years old as of 2026.

Q: What club does Neymar play for?
A: Santos FC in the Brazilian Série A, the club where he began his career. He rejoined Santos in January 2025 after an 18-month spell at Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, and signed a contract extension on January 6, 2026, that keeps him at the club through the end of 2026.

Q: Is Neymar Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer?
A: Yes. He passed Pelé’s long-standing record of 77 international goals in September 2023 and has since scored 79 goals in 128 caps. He is the all-time leading men’s goalscorer for the Brazil national team.

Q: Why was Neymar’s transfer to PSG such a big deal?
A: Paris Saint-Germain activated his €222 million release clause at Barcelona in August 2017, making him the most expensive footballer in history by a wide margin. The fee more than doubled the previous world record, and it remains the largest transfer fee ever paid in the sport nine years later.

Q: Has Neymar won a Ballon d’Or?
A: No. He finished third in 2015 and third in 2017, and has not placed on the podium since. Injuries, his exit from Barcelona, and the prime-year dominance of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are widely cited as the reasons the award eluded him.

Q: Will Neymar play at the 2026 World Cup?
A: That is the open question of his career. He has not played for Brazil since rupturing his ACL against Uruguay on October 17, 2023, and Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti has stated squad selection will be based on fitness and form, not reputation. Neymar’s contract renewal at Santos through the end of 2026 was explicitly framed around proving fitness and earning his way back into the Brazil squad. Brazil is in Group C alongside Morocco, Haiti, and Scotland.

Q: What are Neymar’s official social accounts?
A: His verified accounts include @neymarjr on Instagram, X (Twitter), and TikTok, plus the Neymar Jr. Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Upcoming Projects / Season Outlook

• 2026 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (April–December 2026): Neymar enters the season at Santos following a December 2025 meniscus procedure, with a return to match action targeted for the early weeks of the Brasileirão. Santos are managing his minutes carefully across a demanding calendar that includes the Brasileirão, Copa do Brasil, Copa Sudamericana, and Campeonato Paulista.
• Copa Sudamericana 2026 (March–November 2026): Santos qualified for continental competition by finishing 12th in 2025, giving Neymar his first taste of CONMEBOL club football since Santos’s 2012 Recopa run.
• Brazil squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup (June–July 2026, USA / Canada / Mexico): Squad decisions are expected to be finalized by May 2026. Ancelotti has publicly stated Neymar’s inclusion will depend strictly on fitness and form. Brazil opens its tournament on June 13 against Morocco in Group C (Morocco, Haiti, Scotland).
• Puma and image-rights campaigns: New Puma boot and apparel releases tied to the World Cup cycle are expected, subject to official confirmation.
• NR Sports and Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr.: Ongoing community, sport, and educational initiatives in Praia Grande, including annual programming through the Instituto.

All dates and plans are subject to change based on fitness, squad selection, and scheduling.

Interviews & Features

• ESPN, “Neymar signs Santos renewal through 2026 with sights on World Cup” (January 2026), coverage of the contract extension and the 2026 World Cup ambition it was explicitly built around.
• Olympics.com, “Brazil star Neymar targets FIFA World Cup 2026 after extending contract with Santos” (January 2026), interview and analysis of the return-to-form timeline ahead of the tournament.
• CNN, “Neymar returns from ACL injury after more than a year on the sidelines” (October 2024), coverage of his long-awaited comeback appearance at Al-Hilal in the AFC Champions League.
• beIN SPORTS, “Renewal Confirmed: Neymar Jr. Will Remain at Santos Until 2026” (January 2026), long-read feature on the homecoming arc and the World Cup stakes.
• Yahoo Sports, “Is Neymar playing in the 2026 World Cup? Santos contract extension explained” (January 2026), analysis of how the Santos extension, medical timeline, and Ancelotti’s selection stance converge on the World Cup question.

Public Appearances, Games, & Events

• Rio 2016 Olympic Final (August 20, 2016): Captained Brazil to its first-ever Olympic gold medal in men’s football with a 1–1 draw (5–4 on penalties) vs. Germany at the Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro. Neymar scored both Brazil’s goal in regulation and the winning penalty.
• UEFA Champions League Final 2020 (August 23, 2020): Played for Paris Saint-Germain in PSG’s first-ever Champions League final, losing 1–0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon, the only major final of the pandemic-era tournament staged behind closed doors.
• Santos homecoming unveiling (January 31, 2025): Presented as a Santos player at Vila Belmiro in Santos, São Paulo, 12 years after his original farewell, in front of an overflowing stadium of home fans.
• Globe Soccer Awards ceremony (December 27, 2024): Accepted the Player Career Award in Dubai alongside Rio Ferdinand and Thibaut Courtois.
• Santos FC contract renewal announcement (January 6, 2026): Appeared in a club-produced video from inside Vila Belmiro in Santos, confirming his contract extension through the end of 2026.