NEYMAR JR

jr the great

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnio(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. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the world.[7]
Neymar came into prominence at Santos, where he made his professional debut aged 17. He helped the club win two successive Campeonato Paulista championships, a Copa do Brasil, and the 2011 Copa Libertadores; the latter being 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, he won the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League, and finished third for the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2015 for his performances. He then attained a domestic double in the 2015–16 season. In 2017, Neymar transferred to Paris Saint-Germain in a move worth €222 million, making him the most expensive player ever.[note 1] In France, Neymar won three league titles, three Coupe de France, and two Coupe de la Ligue, which included a domestic treble and being voted Ligue 1 Player of the Year in his debut season.[10] Neymar helped PSG attain a domestic quadruple in the 2019–20 season, and led the club to its first ever Champions League Final.
With 70 goals in 116 matches for Brazil since debuting at age 18, Neymar is the second highest goalscorer for his national team, trailing Pelé. He was a key player in Brazil's victories at the 2011 South American Youth Championship, where he finished as leading goalscorer, and the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, where he won the Golden Ball. His participation in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2015 Copa América was cut short by injury and a suspension, respectively, before captaining Brazil to their first Olympic gold medal in men's football at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Having renounced the captaincy, he featured at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and after missing the 2019 Copa América through injury, helped Brazil to a runner-up finish at the 2021 tournament.
Off the pitch, Neymar 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.[11] 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,[12] dropping a spot to fourth in 2020

Television and films

NEYMAR HIGHLIGHTS

HTML FRM

EARLY LIFE

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior was born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, to Neymar Santos Sr. and Nadine da Silva. 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.[14] 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."[15] Growing up, Neymar combined his love of futsal with street football.[16] 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.[17] In 2003, Neymar moved with his family to São Vicente, where he began playing for youth side Portuguesa Santista.[18] Then, later in 2003, they moved to Santos, where Neymar joined Santos FC.[19] 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 10,000 reais per month and at 16, 125,000 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

Neymar began playing football at an early age and he was soon spotted by Santos FC 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.[21] While in the youth academy, Neymar met Paulo Henrique Ganso, becoming good friends in the process. Aged 14, Neymar travelled to Spain for try outs with the Real Madrid youth team, at the time when Real had stars like Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Roberto Carlos and Robinho. 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.[22][23]

2009: Debut season

Neymar made his professional debut on 7 March 2009, despite being only 17 years old. He was brought on for the last thirty minutes, in a 2–1 win against Oeste.[16] 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.[24] In the final, however, Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians.[25] In his first season, Neymar racked up 14 goals in 48 games

2010: Campeonato Paulista success

Neymar continued his ascendancy in 2010, and, on 15 April 2010, he scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 rout of Guarani in the qualifying stages of the Brazilian Cup.[27] Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games,[21] the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals.[28] Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.[29] Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to other Brazilians, including Robinho and Brazilian legend Pelé.[30] In 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid for him from English Premier League team West Ham United,[31] and later an offer from another English club, Chelsea, reported to be in the region of £20 million.[32] Despite Santos unwillingness to sell and Neymar himself insisting "I'm focused only on Santos",[33] 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."[32] Although one year later Neymar admitted, 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.[34] 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).[35] 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 Santos' football club.[36] Despite his first two seasons being highly successful, having ended the 2010 season with an impressive 42 goals in 60 games, problems had been identified, namely Neymar's apparent taste for diving when tackled, rather than attempting to continue his run, and his attitude. The latter came to the forefront during a match with Atlético Goianiense, on 15 September 2010, when the Santos' manager, Dorival Júnior, appointed another player to take the penalty awarded for a foul on Neymar. His decision was based on the fact that Neymar had missed a crucial penalty during the Copa do Brasil final of that year, even if Santos went on to win. Reacting to this, Neymar turned his back on his manager, had to be calmed down by a linesman and argued with his captain, Edu Dracena. The fallout from this event was that Dorival Júnior wished to have Neymar suspended for two weeks, but the board sided with the player and promptly sacked the manager. Despite Neymar's apologies over the incident, some doubts still remain about his attitude.[16] In December 2010, aged just 18, Neymar came third for the 2010 South American Footballer of the Year, behind Andrés D'Alessandro and Juan Sebastián Verón.[37]

2011: Puskás Award

Neymar scored six goals during Santos run to the 2011 Copa Libertadores Finals, tying him for third top goalscorer,[38] including the clinching goal of Santos' 4–3 aggregate win over Cerro Porteño in the semi-finals.[39] In the two-legged final, Santos faced Uruguayan side Peñarol and drew the first leg 0–0 in Montevideo.[40] At home in the second leg, Neymar opened the scoring in the 46th minute as Santos held on for a 2–1 win and Neymar won Man of the Match honours.[41][42] The win brought Santos their first Copa Libertadores triumph since 1963, when Brazilian legend Pelé was playing for the club.[43][44] In September 2011, Santos club president Luís Ribeiro threatened to report Real Madrid to FIFA following reports that they had attempted to sign Neymar to a pre-contract agreement, and denied that such an agreement was in place.[45] On 9 November 2011, Neymar and Santos agreed to a contract extension that would see the player stay with the club until after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The deal reportedly increased Neymar's wages by 50%, to the levels that top European clubs would be paying him.[46] On 14 December 2011, Neymar scored the opening goal for Santos as they defeated Kashiwa Reysol 3–1 in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup at the Toyota Stadium in Toyota, Japan, but failed to score against Barcelona in the final on 18 December 2011, where Santos were defeated 4–0, finishing as runners-up in the competition.[47] He won the 2011 FIFA Puskás Award for scoring a solo goal in the Brasileirão Série A against Flamengo, in a 5–4 loss. On 31 December 2011, he won the 2011 South American Footballer of the Year award for the first time, by a record margin, following in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, Romário, Pelé and Zico.

2012: South America's best player

On 5 February 2012, when he turned 20, Neymar scored his 100th goal as a professional football player, against Palmeiras in the Campeonato Paulista.[49][50] On 25 February 2012 – he scored two goals, one of which was from 25-yards – and created two assists to help his side to a 6–1 win over Ponte Preta.[51] On 7 March 2012, Neymar netted a hat-trick as Santos saw off Brazilian rivals Internacional 3–1 in the Copa Libertadores Group stage match.[52] On 29 March, he scored a brace against Guaratinguetá in a 5–0 victory.[53] In the fixture against São Paulo on 29 April 2012, Neymar scored a hat-trick with the match ending 3–1.[54] Thereafter, he went on to score twice in the first[55] and second legs[56] in the 2012 Campeonato Paulista Finals against Guarani, which ended 7–2 on aggregate. Neymar finished the 2012 Campeonato Paulista with 20 goals and was voted the Best player and Best Forward, and Santos were crowned champions. He was joint top scorer in the Copa Libertadores with eight goals, after Santos were beaten over two legs by eventual champions Corinthians in the semi-finals. On 25 August 2012, he scored a brace in the 2–1 away win at Palmeiras.[57] On 3 November 2012, in the Brasileiro Série A away fixture at Cruzeiro, Neymar scored a hat-trick and assisted Felipe Anderson's goal, to help his side to a 4–0 win.[58] Neymar finished off the 2012 season in style, first setting-up Victor Andrade's equaliser, then scoring twice, to give Santos a 3–1 home win over Palmeiras on 1 December 2012.[59] Neymar was voted the Best Player of the 2012 Recopa Sudamericana, with himself scoring in the second leg to win the title 2–0 on aggregate. He finished the 2012 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with 14 goals and being voted the Best forward. Neymar finished the 2012 season, being award the Golden Ball, Arthur Friedenreich Award and Armando Nogueira Trophy. He was one of three finalists in the 2012 FIFA Puskás Award and finished runners-up behind Miroslav Stoch. He won the 2012 South American Footballer of the Year, retaining his award and winning it ahead of the likes of Ronaldinho.

Personal life

Neymar has a son, Davi Lucca, born on 13 August 2011, with former girlfriend Carolina Dantas.[300] He has a very close sibling relationship with his sister Rafaella Beckran, and cemented this platonic closeness by tattooing her face on his arm, while Beckran tattooed her brother's eyes on her arm.
Neymar is a Christian,[302][303] and follows the Pentecostal branch of the religion.[304] Neymar has spoken about his faith saying: "Life only makes sense when our highest ideal is to serve Christ!"[305] Additionally, he has sometimes worn a headband with the words "100% Jesus".[306] Neymar reportedly also tithes (10%) his income to his church and has named Kaká as his religious role model.[307] 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.[308] In addition to his native Portuguese, Neymar also speaks Spanish.
In July 2019, police announced that a rape investigation against Neymar would be dropped due to insufficient evidence.
On 2 September 2020, it was reported that Neymar, along with PSG teammates Ángel Di María and Leandro Paredes, tested positive for COVID-19. The French sports newspaper L'Équipe said that the three players reportedly went on vacation in Ibiza. As a result, they were quarantined for one week, and the rest of the players and working staff were scheduled to take a coronavirus test within the same week.
During a match between Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille, Neymar reported being racially abused by Álvaro González, after being sent off for hitting him in the back of the head.[314] In the aftermath, Neymar hit back on social media, as the Spanish defender denied saying any racist comments during the match.[315] On 16 September, Neymar was handed a two-match ban for his actions; Ligue 1 also began an investigation into the alleged racist comments made by Álvaro.[316] Several days before the decision made by the French league, Spanish radio station Cadena SER claimed to have footage of Neymar racially abusing OM player Hiroki Sakai.[317] On 30 September, Ligue 1 decided that both Álvaro and Neymar would receive no suspensions, because proof of their wrongdoings were insufficient.[318] Additionally, the day after the ruling, Sakai denied on social media that Neymar had made racist comments toward him.[319]