Personal life
Neymar became a father to a baby boy in August 2011 at age 19. The baby's mother is Carolina Dantas, but Neymar is not in a relationship with her. The baby, David Lucca, was born in São Paulo. Neymar was quoted as saying "I cried when I learned that I would be his father. At first, I felt fear. Then joy. It is a new responsibility and I am now enjoying it." He later described the birth of his baby boy as "2.8 kilograms of pure happiness" and also said "Mother and baby are in good condition just after childbirth". Neymar is a Christian. Neymar has spoken about his faith saying, "Life only makes sense when our highest ideal is to serve Christ!" Neymar reportedly also tithes (10%) his income to his church and has named Kaká as his religious role model. WealthIn 2012, France Football ranked Neymar 13th in its list of the world's richest players, behind the likes of Lionel Messi (1st) and Cristiano Ronaldo (3rd), with a combined income from salaries, bonuses and off-field earnings of $18.8 million for the previous 12 months. Sponsorships Neymar has signed many sponsorships as his reputation rapidly grew from the age of 17. In March 2011, he signed an 11-year contract with American sportswear company Nike. In the same month, Panasonic paid US$2.4 million to secure Neymar's services for two years. He has also signed other sponsorships from Volkswagen, Tenys Pé Baruel, Lupo, Ambev, Claro, Unilever and Santander. All of his sponsorships have earned him a total of an estimated €20 million per year. On 8 May 2013, Neymar was rated by SportsPro magazine as the most marketable athlete in the world, ahead of Lionel Messi (2nd) and Cristiano Ronaldo (8th). In November 2012 advertising agency Loducca, created Neymar's own personal brand logo, featuring the N, J and R (Neymar Junior) with the N styled to match Neymar’s shirt number 11. Media Neymar was featured on the front covers of the video games Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 on the North American version, after Konami Digital Entertainment announced that he had joined Pro Evolution Soccer. Neymar joined Cristiano Ronaldo as a featured cover athlete. Neymar appeared on the cover of Time magazine in February 2013, the first Brazilian athlete to be so honoured. The issue included an article by Bobby Ghosh entitled "The Next Pelé" and subtitled "How the career of Brazilian football star Neymar explains his country's economy". Controversy erupted because of a cover by Brazilian football magazine Placar that depicted Neymar on a cross. The title read "A Crucificação de Neymar" (the Crucifixion of Neymar) and subtitled: "the Brazilian ace turns scapegoat in a sport where everyone plays dirty". In April 2013, Brazilian cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa released a Monica's Gang comic book featuring a younger version of Neymar (called Neymar Jr) as the main character. In May 2013, SportsPro magazine named Neymar as the most marketable athlete on the planet for the second consecutive year. He topped the list ahead of Lionel Messi, Rory McIlroy, Usain Bolt and Cristiano Ronaldo, among other sportspeople. The list measures the monetary value, the age, the force in domestic markets, the charisma and their market potential in the next three years. To mark the World Cup commencing in Brazil, in June 2014, Neymar appeared with supermodel Gisele Bündchen on the front cover of Vogue's Brazilian edition. Music Neymar has become an icon in promoting Brazilian modern pop music, particularly Música sertaneja. The video in which Neymar dances in the Santos locker room dancing in front of teammates and making them react to the tune of Michel Teló's hit "Ai se eu te pego!" carrying his recorder making the round of the players went viral. He made a point of performing his dance antiques to the song after scoring goals in football games and appeared live with Teló in one of the latter's concerts. He also supported sertanejo singer Gusttavo Lima performing live with Lima on renditions of the singer's hits "Balada" and "Fazer Beber". In 2012, he made cameo appearances in the music video for yet another sertanejo hit "Eu Quero Tchu, Eu Quero Tcha" by João Lucas & Marcelo. In 2013, Neymar appeared on a rap music video, "País do Futebol" from MC Guimê. |
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