The father of Brazilian football legend Neymar Jr., appropriately named Neymar Santos Sr., has urged his son to not retire from football in a heartfelt message. This came after the 34-year-old decided to call it quits on his international career.
Brazil, while not an outright favourite to win it all, was one of the teams expected to make a deep run in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They started the competition off quite well. They drew against Morocco 1-1 in their first Group C game, followed by a 3-0 win over Haiti and a 3-0 triumph against Scotland.
With seven points, the Seleção topped their group but faced a tough challenge in Japan in the round of 32. A narrow 2-1 victory against Japan came next, thanks to a last-minute goal for Brazil. And just like that, they were in the round of 16.
In the second knockout round, the Brazilians faced Norway. While the Norwegians had some world-class players in their squad, the likes of Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard, Brazil was still expected to outclass their European opponents.
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Instead, Brazil missed a penalty in the first half. Then, in the fourth quarter, Haaland scored twice to cause an upset, as Norway won 2-1.
Neymar scored a penalty in stoppage time of the second-half to register his team’s only goal of the game. He was brought into the match in the second half and did not cause any stir.
Following Brazil’s shock exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Neymar Jr, at the age of 34, announced his retirement from international football, stating the following:
“I tried. I tried. It started here at Met Life Stadium, and I finished here. It is now over.”
With 80 goals and 59 assists, the former Barcelona winger has the most goals and assists for the Brazilian national team of all time. He made his international debut in August 2010 against the United States at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. And almost 16 years later, he ends his international career in the same stadium.
Neymar was the star of the Brazilian national team for a decade and a half. In that time, he led the side to winning the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and a gold medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics at home.
Neymar Jr Asked Not To Retire By Father
However, the father of the Brazilian legend, Neymar Sr., does not want his son to drop the curtains on his career just yet. The senior Neymar penned an emotional message for his son, in which he discussed Neymar’s career and also urged his son to not retire.
My request to you, Ney: keep playing football, please,” he wrote.
Despite this message from his father, Neymar’s international career already looked done and dusted even before the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Ever since joining Al-Hilal in August 2023, the Brazilian has not looked like the player he once was.
While he had injury problems for much of his career, in his year-and-a-half-long stint with Al-Hilal, Neymar played fewer than 10 matches for the Saudi club. This was because he was out with injuries for a long time on two occasions.
He then joined his hometown club Santos in January 2025 and has had several injuries since. He seemed not to be in contention to be in the Brazilian squad for the World Cup, but manager Carlo Ancelotti picked the veteran winger in his 26-man squad. And even during the World Cup, Neymar did not receive a lot of playing time. He didn’t even start a game for his national team.
And so, despite his father asking him not to retire from international football, it seems that Neymar’s days in the Brazilian yellow have come to an end.
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