Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior

Neymar biography..................
Full name: Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior
Birth date: February 5, 1992
Age: 25 years old
Birth place: Mogi das Cruzes (São Paulo), Brazil
Nationality: Brazilian
Height: 1,74m (5’7”)
Weight: 65kg (143.3 lbs)
Field position: Forward
First professiona club: Santos FC
Shirt/jersey number in Brazil and Barcelona: 11
Professional club career debut: March 7, 2009 – Itápolis vs Santos FC
Brazilian National Team debut: July 26, 2010 – United States vs Brazil
Current club: FC Barcelona (since 2013)
Nicknames: Joia, Juninho

 Neymar biography and profile:

Neymar arrived to Santos back in 2003, to start playing for the club’s youth categories. He started becoming popular very early and way before turning a professional player. When he turned 14, he traveled to Madrid in Spain in order to go through some trials at the Merengues and according to the reports he was immediately accepted. However, Santos FC managed to hold on to their crown jewelry because the Brazilian club president at the time, Marcelo Teixeira, offered 1 million euros to Neymar‘s father on the condition that the prodigious player stayed at the club until he turned professional.

Neymar had his debut in Santos shortly after he turned 17 (March 7, 2009), in a away match against Itápolis. His first goal as professional player arrived one week later on March 15 (2009), in a 3-0 win against Mogi Mirim. During his first years in the first team, Neymar shared most of the media focus with his good friend and teammate until 2012, Paulo Henrique Ganso, who is now playing for São Paulo. Neymar didn’t get any silverware during his first year as a professional footballer, since Santos finished 2nd in the “Campeonato Paulista” and 12nd in the “Campeonato Brasileiro“.

In 2010, Santos won the “Campeonato Paulista” for the first time since Neymar had joined the squad and together with Robinho, Paulo Henrique Ganso and André, the team was often called as “Meninos da Vila“, in a clear reference to the fact that several key players had been developed in the club’s youth ranks. Later that year, Neymar won his second career title and this time it was the “Copa do Brasil” trophy (the Brazilian Cup). The Brazilian forward became the competition’s top goalscorer, with 11 goals. His performances were already impressing a lot of scouts from European big clubs by then and during the Old Continent’s summer transfer season in August, Chelsea has allegedly made a move on Neymar that would end up failing miserably after Pelé‘s intervention. The all-time legend talked with the Brazilian youngster and convinced him that the best decision at that time was to stay put in Santos. The Brazilian club finished 8th in the “Campeonato Brasileiro” at the end of that year.

The 2011 year kicked off with all attention turned on to Neymar Jr. He was already being regarded as the best footballer playing in Brazil and there was a big amount of expectation to see how he would keep improving in the months and years ahead. Santos won the “Campeonato Paulista” for the second year in a row, the club’s 19th state title. However, the biggest accomplishment took place in the “Copa dos Libertadores“, with Santos beating Peñarol in the final and Neymar scoring one of the winning goals, during the second leg 2-1 win. The Brazilianclub were chasing that trophy for 48 years… Neymar scored the best goal of his short career that year, in a game against Ronaldinho and Atletico Paranaense. That goal allowed him to win the FIFA Ferenc Puskás award for the best goal of 2011, in a ceremony that was held a few months later in Switzerland, in January of 2012. Before that and deep in December 2011, Santos faced Barcelona in the FIFA Club World Cup and basically got crushed by the Spanish giants, with an impressive 4-0 final result. Neymar recognized that Barcelona had a far superior team and that his side had been taught how to play football that day. That was probably the first big step Neymar has made to open the doors towards signing for Barcelona sooner or later.

On August 24 of 2011, Neymar became a father for the first time in his life, at the age of 19. The mother was 17 and despite asking for her anonymity on a first stage, her identity was later revealed as being Carolina Dantas. Neymar son was a boy and was called Davi Lucca, but the Brazilian player’s relationship with Carolina was far from perfect, leaving few alternatives than paying the mother a monthly child support pension of 30.000 reais (roughly 13.000 US dollars). With the Brazilian National Team, Neymar had his first taste of participating in an important tournament with the Copa America, in July of 2011. Things didn’t go as the Brazilian people certainly expected and the “Canarinha” got knocked out in the competition’s quarter-finals, in the penalty-shout decision against Paraguay.In 2012 Neymar led Santos to some more success in the “Campeonato Paulista“, for the third straight time. On May of that year, Neymar became Santos highest goalscorer since the “Pelé era”, after scoring another 2 goals against Bolivar, in the “Copa dos Libertadores” and reaching his 106th goal for the club. Santos wouldn’t get lucky in that competiton though and got thrown out by Corinthians, in a two-leg  semi-finals. The second trophy Neymarwon in 2012 was the “Recopa Sul-Americana“, after beating Universidad de Chile in the final.

As for 2013, we can safely say that it definitely allowed Neymar to also confirm his star player status in the Brazilian National Team. The Confederations Cup was awaited with high expectation and Neymar didn’t defraud anyone, especially in the final against Spain. Brazil beat the current European and World champions and Neymarperformed at his very best level. 

However, Neymar‘s summer of 2013 will always be remembered for the time when he finally signed for Barcelona and got to initiate his journey in Europe. The Spanish club paid 50 million euros for the Brazilian star, for a 5-year deal that will allow Neymar to earn 7 million euros per year, plus a 1 million euros bonus if he ends up winning the FIFA Balon d’Or, an award which his current teammate Lionel Messi has won for the past 4 straight years and with that always leaving Cristiano Ronaldo behind him. Earlier in the year, Neymar has also announced that he was on a relationship with a new girlfriend, the Brazilian actress from Globo, Bruna Marquezine.

To keep following Neymar‘s career closely, you can rely on many sport betting sites like bet365, who offer live streaming service for soccer games all over the globe, allowing you to keep an eye your favorite players. You can read bet365 review and offer on.

Neymar is a Brazilian soccer prodigy who has played for FC Barcelona since 2013. Here are 42 interesting facts about this soccer sensation.

1. His full name is Neymar da Silva Santos Junior.
2. . 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.
3. Neymar was born on February 5, 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil
4. He played futsal and street pickup games growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and began his career playing for Santos's junior team when he was 11.
5. Real Madrid missed out on signing him on. Neymar flew to Spain when he was only 14 to join the Spanish side. He passed all of the tests and was ready to make the move official before Santos paid a hefty price to keep him in Brazil.
6. n 2003, Neymar moved with his family to São Vicente, where he began playing for youth side Portuguesa Santista.
7. Neymar joined the Santos Academy in 2003 where he perfected his skills.
   
8. He was the top scorer at the 2010 Copa do Brasil tournament with 11 goals. In 2011, he helped Santos win its first Continental Double since 1963.
9. Neymar was just beginning to showcase his skill in 2010 when an English team took notice. That club was surprisingly West Ham. They quickly made a bid of £12 million for the Brazilian but were turned down immediately. It was this bid that drew eyes to Neymar on a worldwide level as Chelsea then took interest before other clubs joined the transfer frenzy.
10. Neymar is the only Brazilian soccer player to have graced the cover of TIME magazine. In fact, the only other Brazilians to find their way on the cover have been political leaders.
    
    

    Source: Time
11. In 2010. Neymar debuted a Mohawk-style haircut, which quickly became popular among younger fans.
12. In 2010, Neymar scored five goals in a victory against Guarani in the Brazilian Cup.
13. With all of Neymar's hype and talent, he actually came fairly cheap for Barcelona. The Brazilian is the ninth-most expensive purchase in the club's history at only 57 million euros.
    
14. The striker will get $74 million in salary over five years, $13 million of which is a signing bonus.
15. He became a father to little Davvi Luca when he was 19 years old. Neymar has refused to reveal the identity of the mother to 'protect her and the child'.
16. Neymar scored his 100th professional goal on his 20th birthday in 2012 and finished the year with a career-best total of 43.
17. Neymar dated the Brazilian actress Bruna Marquezine for around a year; they split up in February 2014.
    
    

    Source: Wikipedia / Sergio Savarese
18. Despite making dramatic headways into the footballing spotlight, Neymar was overlooked by Dunga for the National team squad flying to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, even after Pele and Romario pitched for his inclusion.
19. Neymar won the South American Footballer of the Year Award in 2011 and 2012.
    
    

    Source: Wikipedia / Tânia Rêgo/ABr - Agência Brasil
20. In 2012, he was featured on the cover of the Pro Evolution Soccer video game along with Cristiano Ronaldo.In 2012 he scored a hat-trick for Brazil in a friendly against China.
21. He is 5′ 9″ tall (about 1.75 metres).
22. In 2012 and 2013, SportsPro named him the most marketable athlete in the world.
23. In December 2013, Neymar was ranked by The Guardian as the sixth best player in the world.
24. He is known for his acceleration, speed, dribbling, finishing and ability with both feet. His playing style has earned him critical acclaim, with fans, media and former players drawing comparison to former Brazil forward Pelé, who has called Neymar "an excellent player", while Ronaldinho states "he will be the best in the world".
    
25. He is an evangelical Christian and attributes his faith for the source behind his humility and grounded nature. "Life only makes sense when our highest ideal is to serve Christ!" he said in an interview.
26. His footballing idols are Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Andres Iniesta and Xavi.
27. Neymar Jr. is being touted by his homeland as the face of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
    
    
28. He is also the spokesmodel and spokesperson for several products including Castrol, Police sunglasses and L'Oreal who released the cologne, Drakkar Noir by Neymar.
29. Neymar was the seventh-richest footballer in the world in 2012 according to Forbes.
30. Neymar has become an icon in promoting Brazilian modern pop music, particularly Música sertaneja. The video in which Neymar dances in the Santos locker room dancing in front of teammates and making them dance to the tune of Michel Teló's hit "Ai se eu te pego!" carrying his recorder making the round of the players went viral.
31. He's also known to make surprise stage appearances at Brazilian concerts, to the delight of a screaming teenage audience.
32. In November 2012 advertising agency Loducca, created Neymar's own personal brand logo, featuring the N, J and R (Neymar Junior) with the N styled to match Neymar's shirt number 11.
33. In May 2013, he was named as the most marketable athlete on the planet by the SportsPro magazine. He topped the list over other world renowned athletes like Usain Bolt, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rory McIlroy and Lionel Messi.
34. Controversy erupted because of a cover by Brazilian football magazine Placar that depicted Neymar on a cross. The title read "A Crucificação de Neymar" (the Crucifixion of Neymar) and subtitled: "the Brazilian ace turns scapegoat in a sport where everyone plays dirty".
35. To mark the World Cup commencing in Brazil, in June 2014, Neymar appeared with supermodel Gisele Bündchen on the front cover of Vogue's Brazilian edition.
    
36. In 2012, he made cameo appearances in the music video for yet another sertanejo hit "Eu Quero Tchu, Eu Quero Tcha" by João Lucas & Marcelo.
37. In 2013, Neymar appeared on a rap music video "Pais do Futebol" from MC Guime.
38. His fans even have their own name for themselves: Neymarzetes. Once, rumor has it, Neymar's security guards had to lock him in an airport toilet to keep him from a stampede of Neymarzetes.
39. Neymar primarily plays as either a forward, winger or occasionally as an attacking midfielder and has been described as "a true phenomenon". He often plays as a striker for both club and country in the team's 4-3-3 formation and drifting occasionally onto the flanks due to his energetic pace and playmaking skills.
40. In 2013 he was awarded the golden ball for his performance in the Confederations Cup
41. Neymar is the 11th-highest scorer of all time for the Brazilian national team.