Neymar

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Brazil national team. A technically skilled player, he is renowned for his flamboyant style of play, passing abilities, and two-footedness. Neymar has scored at least 100 goals for three different clubs, being one of a few players to do so, and is the highest-scoring Brazilian player in Champions League history.

Neymar made his professional debut with Santos in 2009, and in 2011, he helped them win their first Copa Libertadores in nearly 50 years. 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 UEFA Champions League in the trio's first season, Neymar was the joint-top scorer of the Champions League campaign and top scorer in the Copa del Rey. Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2017 in a transfer costing €222 million, making him the most expensive player ever. There, he won Ligue 1 Player of the Year, won five Ligue 1 titles, and was integral to PSG being runners-up in the 2019-20 Champions League. He also ranks as PSG's fourth-highest all-time top goalscorer, despite reoccurring injuries consistently disrupting his playing time. In 2023, he became the most expensive signing in Saudi Pro League history, costing €90 million, as he signed for Al Hilal.

Debuting for Brazil aged 18, Neymar 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 at the 2016 Summer Olympics, having already achieving a silver medal at the 2012 edition. Helping Brazil to a runner-up finish at the 2021 Copa América, he was jointly awarded Best Player. In the 2022 World Cup, he became the third Brazilian player to score in three World Cups, after Pelé and Ronaldo. Neymar has won a record six Samba Gold awards.

Neymar has been named in the FIFA FIFPro World11 and 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, 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. 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, dropping to fourth in 2020.