After 505 days since the serious injury that left him out of action for over a year, Neymar is officially back to the Brazilian team.
The announcement of the return of the Santos athlete to the national formation was made on the morning of Thursday (6) by coach Dorival Júnior at the headquarters of CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), in Rio de Janeiro.
The coach summoned 23 players for matches against Colombia, in Brasilia, and Argentina, in Buenos Aires, on March 20 and 25, respectively. The games are valid for the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
Brazil currently occupies the fifth position in the South American qualifying, with 18 points-the first six guarantee a direct place to the World Cup. Lionel Messi’s Argentina leads with 25 points, while Colombia is fourth with 19 points.
The last time Neymar played for the national team was on October 17, 2023, when he suffered the most serious career injury: the ruptures in the previous cruciate ligament and the left knee meniscus, played at the end of the first half in the 2-0 loss to Uruguay by the qualifiers in Montevideo.
At the time, the team was still directed by coach Fernando Diniz. Unable to count on his main player, the team would still suffer two more losses at the end of 2023, precisely to Colombia and Argentina, which eventually resulted in Diniz’s resignation.
Dorival Junior took over in early 2024 with the mission of ending the bad phase of the predecessor and even had a promising start, with victory against England in Wembley and a draw with Spain at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Following, however, the team failed to gear and found it difficult to perform consistent performance on the pitch, without Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo being able to take over the post of protagonists in the attack left by Neymar.
The formation ended up eliminated early by Uruguay in the quarterfinals of the Copa America, and would still bitter results disappointing by the qualifiers, with defeat to Paraguay and a draw with Venezuela.
With questions to Dorival Júnior’s work at the end of an irregular season, Neymar emerges in 2025 as the great hope for Brazil to perform better performance within the four lines and thus ensure his place in next year’s Cup.
The first matches since the return to Santos in late January bring animating indications to the fans. At 33, the player has led his companions on the pitch and played an important role in the classification of Alvinegro Praiano to the semifinals of the Paulista Championship against Corinthians, next Sunday (9). He has played in seven matches for the state so far and has scored three goals – one of them Olympic, the first of his career.
“No one needs to talk about what Neymar represents. The moment he lives is a recovery process, we have this understanding, we are aware, but we also understand that the capacity and qualities of such a player turns out to be a condition for him to overcome any and all situation that will happen within a match,” Dorival Junior said in an interview with journalists.
Check out the call list
Goalkeepers
Alisson (Liverpool)
Bento (AL-NASSR)
Ederson (Manchester City)
Sides
Danilo (Flamengo)
Guilherme Arana (Atlético-MG)
Wesley (Flamengo)
Vanderson (Monaco)
Defender
Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal)
Marquinhos (PSG)
Leo Ortiz (Flamengo)
Murillo (Nottingham Forest)
Midfielder
André (Wolverhampton)
Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle)
Gerson (Flamengo)
Matheus Cunha (Wolverhampton)
Neymar (Santos)
Joelinton (Newcastle)
Attackers
Stephen (Palmeiras)
João Pedro (Brighton)
Rappinha (Barcelona)
Rodrygo (Real Madrid)
Savinho (Manchester City)
Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)
