Neymar quits international football after Brazil’s World Cup elimination
By Al Jazeera, July 6, 2026Neymar says he is done playing for Brazil’s national team, making the announcement after he and his teammates were knocked out of the World Cup with a 2-1 loss to Norway in the round of 16.
“I tried,” Neymar said after the match on Sunday. “It started here, at MetLife Stadium, and I finished here. It is now over.”
Neymar, 34, played his first game for Brazil on August 10, 2010, a friendly against the United States at the stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
He is Brazil’s all-time top scorer, and ironically, he got his first goal for his country ahead of global football icon Pele. Against Norway, he scored from a penalty kick in the final minutes after being brought on as a substitute.
He collapsed in tears when the final whistle went and had to be consoled by teammates.
Neymar appeared in only two of Brazil’s five games in the tournament due to a nagging right calf injury. He was also on the field for 15 minutes against Scotland in group play.
Brazil’s best player for more than a decade had been slowed by injuries in recent years that limited his impact. The country is now entering a period of transition, with the next generation taking over.
“We ask that people have patience with the new generation and support them from the get-go,” Captain Marquinhos said.
Brazil’s penalty-taking pecking order
This comes as head coach Carlo Ancelotti defended his decision to overlook Vinícius Júnior for a crucial first-half penalty during the Seleção’s dramatic 2-1 defeat against Norway.
Speaking after Erling Haaland scored a double to dump the five-time champions out of the competition on Sunday, July 5, 2026, Ancelotti revealed that the Real Madrid star was not among the top five penalty takers in the team’s pecking order.
He clarified that the decision to hand the ball to Bruno Guimarães was based on analytical data regarding who among the active, on-field players was the most reliable from the spot.
“We did an analysis spanning over a year,” Ancelotti explained. “In this team, the number one taker is Raphinha, who was off the pitch at the moment, followed by Neymar, Igor Thiago, and then Bruno Guimarães. After Guimarães, it is Gabriel Martinelli. So, we chose Bruno because we believed he was the best option on the pitch at that time.”