Neymar Jr
Left Winger / Centre-Forward · Santos · Brazil
About Neymar Jr
Neymar is one of the most naturally gifted attacking players of his generation, blending dribbling, pace and flair with a football intelligence that has produced moments of individual brilliance for two decades. He won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015 as part of the devastating MSN trio alongside Messi and Suárez, and his €222 million transfer to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 remains the largest in football history. He returned to boyhood club Santos in January 2025, where he now plays out the final months of a career that reshaped Brazilian football's global image on and off the pitch.
Neymar Jr's story
From Jardim Glória to the World Stage
Neymar was born in Mogi das Cruzes and grew up in the Jardim Glória neighbourhood of Praia Grande, São Paulo. His father, Neymar Santos Sr, a former lower-league player, became his manager and the driving force behind every major move of his career, including the world-record PSG transfer. He credits futsal, which he played before switching to full-size football, with shaping the close control and quick thinking that became his trademark, and named Santos favourite Robinho as his boyhood idol.
Barcelona's MSN
Neymar joined Barcelona in 2013 and formed, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, the most feared attacking trio in world football. The MSN combination scored 122 goals between them in the 2014-15 season alone as Barcelona won a treble, including the Champions League final victory over Juventus in Berlin.
The World's Most Expensive Player
PSG triggered Neymar's €222m release clause in August 2017, a fee that doubled the previous world record and was engineered in large part by his father. He won three Ligue 1 titles in six seasons in Paris, but injuries repeatedly disrupted his campaigns, including the Copa América final defeat to Argentina in 2021 and a serious knee injury that limited his final PSG season.
Home Again
A brief, injury-ravaged spell at Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal, where he made just seven appearances before a January 2025 mutual contract termination, preceded an emotional return to Santos — 'It's like I'm going back in time,' he said announcing the move. He has since extended his contract to the end of 2026.
International Retirement
Neymar retired from international football on 5 July 2026, in tears, after Brazil lost 2-1 to Norway in the World Cup round of 16 in New York. 'I tried, I tried. Now, it's over. I started here; I finished here,' he told Globo pitchside, closing a Brazil career that began in 2010 and yielded a Confederations Cup, an Olympic gold medal, and the national team's all-time scoring record.
Did you know?
- ⚽ Neymar is Brazil's all-time top scorer with 80 international goals from 130 caps — surpassing Pelé, Ronaldo and Romário, and finishing second only to Cafu for most Brazil caps.
- 💰 His 2017 transfer from Barcelona to PSG for €222 million remains the most expensive transfer in football history — more than double the previous record at the time.
- 👨👩👧👦 Has four children — Davi Lucca (born 2011, with Carolina Dantas), Mavie (born 2023) and Mel (born 2025), both with Bruna Biancardi, and Helena (born 2024, with Amanda Kimberlly) — and announced a fifth child expected with Biancardi during the 2026 World Cup.
- 😢 He suffered a broken vertebra in the 2014 World Cup quarter-final, ruling him out of the semi-final — Brazil subsequently lost 7-1 to Germany without him, the most humiliating result in Brazilian football history.
- 🌟 Santos — who signed him aged 11 — reportedly turned down a Real Madrid offer for Neymar before he was even 18, such was his reputation in Brazilian youth football.
- 🇧🇷 He led Brazil to the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2019 Copa América — ending a 12-year wait for continental glory — and won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics on home soil.
- 🃏 An avid poker player and PokerStars ambassador, Neymar has said he dreams of playing professionally once his football career ends, and has been known to play through the night between matches.
- 🥅 Neymar passed 150 combined goals for Santos across his two spells at the club during the 2025-26 season, one of only a handful of players to reach that mark for the Peixe.
- ❤️ His own charity, Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr, has run since December 2014 in the Praia Grande neighbourhood where he grew up, with capacity to support 3,000 children and young people and their families.
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