Neymar confirmed his international retirement after Brazil’s round of 16 loss to Norway on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
The 34-year-old came off the bench and converted a penalty in the final minutes for Brazil’s only goal in the 2-1 defeat
His farewell closes the loop on a career that began at the same MetLife pitch in an August 2010 friendly against the United States, where he scored his first international goal
Neymar has confirmed his retirement from Brazil’s national team, announcing the decision after his side’s 2-1 round of 16 defeat to Norway at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Sunday. Brought on as a substitute, the 34-year-old converted a penalty in the final minutes for Brazil’s only goal before collapsing in tears at the full-time whistle and being consoled by teammates.
The exit brought a symmetrical ending to a career that had been increasingly shadowed by injury. Neymar appeared in only two of Brazil’s five games in the tournament due to a nagging right calf injury, logging 15 minutes against Scotland in group play before his introduction against Norway. “I tried,” he said after the match. “It started here, at MetLife Stadium, and I finished here. It is now over.”
The MetLife setting gave the exit its narrative symmetry. Neymar made his Brazil debut at the same East Rutherford venue on August 10, 2010, in a friendly against the United States, scoring his first international goal in the process and doing so ahead of Pelé’s own first strike for the national team. He leaves the setup as Brazil’s all-time top scorer, having been the country’s best player for more than a decade before injuries began to blunt his impact in recent years.
Brazil now enters a period of transition, with the next generation taking over. Captain Marquinhos framed the shift as a collective ask on behalf of the emerging squad, saying, “We ask that people will have patience with the new generation and support them from the get-go.” Photographs from the final whistle showed Raphinha and Vinícius Júnior consoling Neymar on the pitch, an image that reads as an unofficial handoff to the players expected to anchor the next Brazil cycle.
