Neymar's Controversial Poker Tournament After World Cup Exit

Neymar da Silva is back in the eye of the storm.

Barely weeks after Brazil’s early exit from the 2026 World Cup, the Seleção captain has again stepped straight into controversy, this time with cards in his hands rather than a ball at his feet.

Brazil’s campaign ended with a jolt in the round of 16, a 2-1 defeat to Norway that sent the five-time world champions home far earlier than the nation expected. The mood around the squad was heavy, the inquest immediate, the criticism fierce.

Then Neymar appeared in Las Vegas.

Just days after the elimination, the forward turned up at a poker tournament in the gambling capital of the world, a scene that jarred with the national mood. While Brazil digested another World Cup failure, their captain sat at the tables, smiling for photos and videos that raced across social media.

The reaction was instant. For many fans, the images clashed starkly with the gloom that followed the defeat. Questions swirled again around Neymar’s priorities, around image, responsibility, and timing.

Now, he has doubled down.

According to Brazil’s Globo network, Neymar has once more chosen poker over football commitments, or at least what many feel should have been his focus. Left out of Santos’ trip to Venezuela to face Universidad Central in the first round of Sudamericana qualifying — the coaching staff opted to rest him — he used the gap not to stay close to the squad, but to join friends at the fourth stage of a Brazilian poker tournament.

No rules were broken. No contracts breached. Yet the optics are unmistakable.

While Santos travelled to open their continental campaign, their most high-profile player sat at another poker table, again under the spotlight, again feeding a debate that never seems to die down around him.

For Neymar, the cards keep coming. So do the questions about how he chooses to play them.