The Brazilian Unquestioned Star? Neymar's Global Tournament Race Against Time

While Ousmane Dembele received the 2025 Ballon d'Or in late September, the Brazilian sensation was receiving treatment for his latest physical setback of the year - while participating in an online poker tournament.

The 33-year-old Brazilian ace ultimately finished as runner-up, collecting around £73,800 in tournament winnings.

It was partial comfort on a day when he had to watch the player who once replaced him at Barcelona lift the award he had consistently dreamed to win.

Since returning to his boyhood club Santos in the new year, the experienced attacker has failed to live up to expectations, attracting more attention for similar incidents than for his on-field performances.

His homecoming after 12 seasons away was meant to be a chance for him to regain his form and, most importantly, revive a passion for the game that seemed lost after disappointing periods with Paris St-Germain and the Saudi club.

Instead, it has been largely underwhelming for each stakeholder.

Such is the situation that the main question being asked right now in Brazil is if Neymar will make it to the upcoming global tournament.

He's against the clock.

On Wednesday, Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti announced his team selection for the forthcoming matches against Korea Republic and Japan and, once again, Neymar was excluded.

"The Prince", as he was dubbed when received at Santos in a reference to the king Pele, is still awaiting his debut under Ancelotti, having been absent from the national team for 24 months.

He continues to be an fitness concern for the November games, which, in the worst scenario, will leave him with just a pair of exhibition games in spring 2026 to demonstrate his worth to Ancelotti before the announcement of the final list for the World Cup.

"But no one wins the World Cup single-handedly. Placing all our expectations on him at the present time is problematic because he finds it hard to even play multiple matches in a row."

Not just has Neymar had repeated injury problems since his return to Brazil - he's missed 47% of Santos' matches this campaign - but, when he was able to play, he was a different to the player who during his peak rivaled the Argentine maestro and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Of his several attacking returns so far, half have come against teams from divisions below Brazil's top flight - a scoring contribution against a lower-league side, followed by a three goal involvements versus Inter de Limeira, all in the regional competition.

As Santos battle against demotion in the Brazilian first tier, the playmaker no longer seems to be the game-changer he once was.

Despite that, Ancelotti has maintained that the forward has ample opportunity to show he is ready for the World Cup.

Ancelotti created local controversy last month by allegedly attempting to shield Neymar, claiming the star had been excluded from the team over fitness concerns.

But then Neymar himself contradicted this, saying he "was excluded for technical reasons; it has no connection to my physical condition."

In terms of public perception, it undoubtedly worsened the situation for Neymar.

Research from Datafolha found that the Brazilian public are split over whether Neymar should be selected for his next global tournament.

With his record tally, Neymar is Brazil's historical leading marksman, but he hasn't helped his case much with his conduct during matches either.

He seems more on edge than usual, having confronted fans multiple times in stadiums - it happened in successive games in mid-year.

The following month, the forward was left in tears after Santos endured a 6-0 home defeat by Vasco da Gama - the worst result of his career.

When questioned by a reporter about his physical state in a game aftermath discussion, he became frustrated: "Again with this, friend? I've answered this repeatedly already."

The same kind of question has been posed to his parent representative Neymar Sr as well.

"Neymar's strategy was to remain for five months at Santos. For what? To recover. If Neymar was able to feature, so be it," he earlier stated, causing outrage among supporters.

There's remaining optimism, however, that Neymar's peak years remain possible and that he will be able to return to prominence the same way forward Ronaldo "Fenômeno" did in the 2002 World Cup to surmount skepticism and physical setbacks to lead Brazil to the championship trophy.

The Brazilian great sees similarities.

"It's an misrepresentation from a small group who believe he's ignoring his fitness rehabilitation.

Anyone who have been in football knows perfectly how challenging it is to come back from an injury and recover form and self-belief. He's moving forward."

The Santos star has a few decisive months ahead to prove that he's not the prince who stepped away from greatness.