Neymar’s history

 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 winning five Ligue 1 titles and reaching its first Champions League final, whilst establishing himself as one of the club's highest scorers in its history. 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 Peléand Ronaldo. Neymar has won a record six Samba Goldawards.

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]

Neymar began playing football at an early age and he was soon spotted by Santos 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.^[24] 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. 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.^[25][26]

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.^[19] 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.^[27] In the final, however, Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians.^[28] In his first season, Neymar racked up 14 goals in 48 games.^[19]

2010