Neymar announced his immediate retirement from international football on the MetLife Stadium pitch on Sunday, minutes after Norway eliminated Brazil, ending a national-team career that began on the same ground in 2010 1. "It started here, at MetLife Stadium, and I finished here. It is now over," said the 34-year-old, who had made his Brazil debut there against the United States in August 2010.
Neymar is Brazil's all-time leading scorer with 79 international goals, having passed Pele in 2023. He played only two of Brazil's five matches at this tournament, a nagging calf limiting his comeback from the 31-month absence that followed his anterior cruciate ligament rupture in October 2023 . The farewell had a symbolic weight heavier than the on-pitch one.
He scored a stoppage-time penalty as a substitute against Norway, then wept on the turf and was consoled by Raphinha and Vinicius Junior. Captain Marquinhos asked for "patience with the new generation". Neymar becomes the first of the men's game's defining cohort to leave the World Cup for good, the changeover the record books have tracked since Lionel Messi passed Miroslav Klose's all-time mark in June . Brazil's rebuild now proceeds without its designated free-kick and penalty taker.
