FIFA pays homage to Neymar with highlights, stats, stories and trivia following the 34-year-old’s shock call-up by Carlo Ancelotti for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
They said Careca would do it. Then Romario. It was a formality that Ronaldo would. Yet as supernatural as those strikers were for Brazil, they didn’t manage to catch Pele’s haul of 77 goals. It was finally eclipsed by someone they said was more a maker than taker of chances, too fragile for the rough-and-tumble jungle that is international football. Neymar bagged a brace – and upped his tally to 79 – to get Brazil off to a flying start in FIFA World Cup 2026™ qualifying. After rupturing his ACL in their fourth preliminary against Uruguay, however, Neymar has not worn the canary-yellow he loves. That is about to change. Carlo Ancelotti, who had never called up Neymar, shocked the sport on Monday by naming the 34-year-old Santos superstar in his Seleção squad for the global finals.
Brazil’s top scorers
1st) Neymar – 79 goals
2nd) Pele – 77
3rd) Ronaldo – 62
4th) Romario – 56
5th) Zico – 48
A 60-year record
Pele had reigned as Brazil’s outright leading international marksman for 60 years. He outranked Ademir de Menezes, who hit 32 goals for Brazil, in 1962.
Boy wonder
Whispers of Neymar’s phenomenal talent began spreading when he was ten. Zito, the two-time World Cup winner, was swiftly persuaded to watch him play futsal. “I was blown away,” recalled the former midfielder. “I went to see the [Santos] president right away and told him he had to sign Neymar immediately.” That president, however, informed Zito that Santos didn’t have an age group for Neymar. “So create one!” Zito urged Marcelo Teixeira. The latter duly did. At 13 he spent 20 days on trial at Real Madrid, who boasted David Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane at the time. The Spanish superpower pulled out all the stops to sign him, and almost succeeded, but Neymar elected to remain at Santos. He made his club debut as a 17-year-old in 2009 and instantly began thrilling.
