Top Facts You Need to Know about Neymar junior
Neymar da Silva Santos Junior was born in Mogi das Cruzes municipality in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on February 5, 1992. His father is a former footballer who later became his son's advisor. Neymar owes him a lot as he himself has said, "My father has been by my side since I was little. He takes care of things, my finances and my family".
While growing up, young talented Neymar combined his love of futsal with street football and began his journey through the wonderful world of football.
In 2003, the Brazilian footballer moved to São Vicente with his family, where he began playing for the youth side Portuguesa Santista. Later, they moved to Santos, where Neymar joined Santos FC. That was where the family could finally afford to buy a house next to the Vila Belmiro, with the help of Neymar’s success at his youth club and added income. 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.
These days, Neymar is one of the most successful players in the world and has many years of soccer experience and also a variety of awards for his stellar achievements in football, including the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Champions League, FIFA Ballon d'Or bronze in 2015, two Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de France, and a Coupe de la Ligue.
Now that we know a little bit more about him, it’s time to talk about the facts you may not know about the famous Brazilian player.
Facts You should know About Neymar
Let’s go through the facts:
He had a poor family
Neymar came from a poor but happy family. During his childhood, his father worked three jobs simultaneously, so he could feed the family. That’s while his mother also worked as a cook at a nearby child care facility; but no matter what they knew how to be happy and enjoy everything.
Joined his first football club at the age of 7
Neymar joined his first football club when he was just seven years old. Considering the many football legends Brazil has, we all know that in this country soccer is considered to be a part of everyday culture, so it's no wonder that Neymar started picking up a ball at a very young age. He became part of the Portuguese a Santista Club back in 1999 when he was just a seven-year-old kid and within the next few years, he improved so much that ultimately he was
Neymar’s professional career began at Santos FC
Young Neymar joined Santos FC in 2003 when they offered him his first significant contract. Santos FC's youth academy has a very prominent spot in football history and at that time had already produced the likes of claude aldo, Diego and Olano. That is why the 11-year-old Neymar decided to join the Academy as well. Later on, his talents quickly became a matter of public knowledge and this way he was given an offer to join Real Madrid when he was just 14 years old.
Neymar won the best young player award in 2009
Neymar was just 17 when his professional debut happened in 2009. In that year, he was brought in, for the last half an hour during a match of Santos against Oeste and just a couple of days after that he scored his first professional goal for the team. The Brazilian star continued the successful streak and managed to live up to the hype that followed, earning the league's best young player award in that year.
Neymar won the FIFA Puskas award in 2011
Neymar was awarded the FIFA Puskas award back in 2011. This particular award is especially significant for footballers with the most outstanding goal of the year. For Neymar that was a solo goal scored for Santos against Flamengo, in the Brazilian série A.
The Interesting Beginning to His International Career
The Brazilian made his debut under new manager Mano Menezes in August of 2010 in a friendly against the United States. Neymar made the starting lineup that night and scored in his first-ever match in the Brazil jersey. This is while earlier that year, legends such as Pele and Romario pushed Dunga, the former manager of the team, to include him in the 2010 World Cup, followed by a petition signed by 14,000 fans. Surprisingly, Neymar was not included in the roster. He wasn’t even on the stand-by list.
Neymar’s net worth is estimated to be around $185 Million
According to Forbes Neymar’s net worth in 2019 is estimated to be $185 Million. Back in August 2017, Neymar moved to PSG and his transfer stands as the most expensive in the world at $263 million, which the French club paid in full ahead of his signing. This transfer made Neymar the most expensive player in the history of football. It also has to be said that aside from his football earnings, the 28-year-old also has lots of highly lucrative sponsorship deals, including deals with Gillette, Nike, and Redbull.
Neymar overacted his injuries many times
Neymar has been accused of acting his injuries several times, but the most obvious ones were those linked to the 2018 World Cup matches. In fact, it is estimated that Neymar spent 14 minutes rolling on the floor during Brazil's five games. This is while Neymar has denied that he ever acted his injuries.
Neymar’s first son was born when he was 19
It is somehow surprising to know that Neymar had a son when he was just 19 years old. He didn't want to reveal the name of the boy's mother at the beginning because he wanted to protect her from the media frenzy. However, it was later discovered that the mother of the boy is Neymar’s former girlfriend Karolina Dantos.
Interestingly, Neymar is currently enjoying his role as a father according to what he has said himself. This is while he was afraid of his new responsibilities in the beginning. He has said the birth of his son felt like 2.8 kilograms of pure happiness.
He owns an eight million dollars luxury yacht
He is one of the richest celebrities in the world and with this much net worth, it’s normal for him to have expensive tastes. Neymar owns a luxury yacht, which he has bought for eight million dollars. In addition to the yacht, he owns a private jet, a large car collection that includes an extravagant Porsche Panamera Turbo, and a lengthy portfolio of luxury properties in six Brazilian cities. It also has to be mentioned that the yacht also costs an astounding one hundred and twenty thousand dollars per year to maintain.
Neymar proudly promotes Brazilian pop Music
He is not only interested in playing football but also likes music as he promotes Brazilian pop Music. Neymar was always proud of his Brazilian roots and so in recent times, he's often promoted Brazilian modern pop. he's known as a fan and supporter of Brazilian singers Michel teló and Gustavo Lima. Neymar also appeared in two music videos of Brazilian musicians.
Two Guinness World Records
He holds two Guinness world records. One for his transfer from Barcelona to PSG, that we have already mentioned and the second is the record for the fastest goal in Olympic history for a male footballer. The famous goal happened to the 2016 Summer Olympics during Brazil's semifinal game against Honduras. Neymar rocketed the ball into the back of the net at a breathtaking 14 seconds.
Neymar is a devout Christian
The 28-year-old Brazilian is a real Christian as he has spoken about his faith numerous times and he's known as a very religious person. He is a Pentecostal Christian and reportedly gives 10% of his profit to the church. Neymar's religion is a great part of his life and philosophy. You may have seen his headband with 100% Jesus written on it.
He is the main character in a Brazilian comic book
Did you know that Neymar is the main character in a Brazilian comic book as a child?
In fact, a Brazilian cartoonist by the name of Mauricio de Souza made a comic, which features Neymar as a child. It also has to be said that the famous footballer had noticeable cameos in several movies including XXX: Return of Xander Cage, Match in 2017, as well as The Upcoming Kickboxer Armageddon.
He is in love with his sister
Neymar loves his sister Rafaela Bokram so much that he has a tattoo of her on his arm. The two have a strong bond and so he honored their close sibling relationship and showed his brotherly love by tattooing Rafaela x' face on his arm. This is while in return Rafaela has tattooed Neymar’s eyes on her arm.
Neymar scored his 100th professional goal on his 20th birthday
Interestingly, he scored his 100th professional goal on his 20th birthday, on 5 February 2012 against Palmeiras in classic Neymar way. It is undeniable that his timing for the goal has been brilliant as there are not many who can score a goal on their birthday. What’s more impressive about all of this is that Neymar did it all at just 20 years of age which makes him one of the bests in the world.
The only Brazilian athlete to be on the cover of TIME magazine
There are not many faces to be seen on the cover of the famous Time magazine. However, Neymar has been one of them and in fact, the only Brazilian athlete to be featured on the cover of the magazine.
Although Brazil is a country known for its sports legends, Neymar is the only Brazilian athlete to grace the cover of TIME magazine. In fact, the only other Brazilians to be featured on the cover of TIME magazine are politicians.
He was born on the same day as his footballing idol, Ronaldo
Who do you think his footballing idols are? Ronaldinho? Maradona? Pele? No! In fact, his footballing idols are Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi. It is also interesting to know that Neymar was born on February 5, 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil which is the same birthdate as one of his idols, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neymar dated the Brazilian actress, Bruna Marquezine
Neymar and Bruna Marquezine have been dating on and off for a while. As well as being an actor, Marquezine is also a very successful model and has over 35m followers on her Instagram page. The couple started dating in 2012 and continued their relationship for two years. Then split up but then later went back to their relationship. However, it seems like they have chosen not to be together anymore, as they haven’t been in touch since their last break up which was in 2018.
Pelé called Neymar "an excellent player"
Our last fact about Neymar is related to Pele’s opinion on him. Neymar is known for his acceleration, speed, dribbling, finishing, and ability with both feet. These abilities and his style have earned him critical acclaim, as for example former Brazil forward Pelé, has called Neymar "an excellent player", while Ronaldinho states "he will be the best in the world".
