Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), also known as Neymar Júnior or simply Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Brazil national team. Widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation, he is known for his skills, dribbling, playmaking, and finishing.^[8] Neymar is one of the few players to have scored at least 100 goals for three different clubs.^[9] He is the highest-scoring Brazilian in the UEFA Champions League^[10] and is also Brazil's all-time top goalscorer.Neymar made his professional debut with Santosin 2009. In 2011, he helped them win their first Copa Libertadores in nearly 50 years.^[11] 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]} Embracing the role of a number 10 in which he orchestrated PSG's tempo more than he had during his time at Barcelona, Neymar largely contributed to PSG winning five Ligue 1titles and reaching its first Champions League final. 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 Pelé and Ronaldo. Neymar has won a record six Samba Gold awards.

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.^[14] 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,^[15] and dropped him to fourth in 2020.^[16]

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Yakubu Kataali

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