Neymar's Injury History, Year by Year
A fractured vertebra in 2014, two broken metatarsals at PSG, 101 games missed in Paris, a torn ACL in Montevideo and a thigh injury in September 2026. The full record of Neymar's injuries, with the dates and the matches.
Neymar has been one of the most gifted players of his generation and one of the most interrupted. The pattern is not a run of bad luck in a single season. It stretches from a knee in the back at the 2014 World Cup to a thigh injury at Santos in September 2026.
This is the record, in order.
2014: The Fractured Vertebra
On July 4, 2014, Brazil beat Colombia 2-1 in the World Cup quarterfinal on home soil. Late in the match, Colombia's Juan Camilo Zúñiga caught Neymar in the back with a knee. Neymar fractured a vertebra.
He missed the semifinal against Germany, which Brazil lost 7-1, and the third-place match against the Netherlands.
It remains the single most consequential injury of his career, and not only for him.
2018: The First Metatarsal
In February 2018, in his first season at Paris Saint-Germain, Neymar injured a metatarsal in his right foot in a league match against Marseille. Surgery followed.
He missed 16 games, including the Champions League knockout tie against Real Madrid that PSG had signed him to win.
2019: The Same Bone Again
On January 23, 2019, almost a year to the week after the first one, Neymar injured the same metatarsal in his right foot against Strasbourg in the Coupe de France.
That absence cost him 18 games.
The rest of the PSG years followed the same rhythm. A ruptured ankle ligament between June and August 2019. A hamstring injury in October and November 2019 that cost six games. A bruised rib in February 2020. Adductor trouble in February and March 2021, nine games. An ankle injury from November 2021 to February 2022, 13 games.
By the end of his time in Paris, Neymar had missed 101 games for the club.
2022: The Serbia Ankle
Neymar damaged ligaments in his right ankle in Brazil's opening match of the 2022 World Cup against Serbia and came off after 80 minutes. He missed the remaining group stage matches.
2023: The ACL in Montevideo
The worst of them came on October 17, 2023, in a 2026 World Cup qualifier away to Uruguay.
In the 44th minute, competing for the ball with Nicolás de la Cruz, Neymar's left knee gave way. He tore the ACL and the meniscus. He was stretchered off in tears and left the stadium on crutches in a leg brace.
The Brazilian Football Confederation confirmed surgery. He had recovered from ankle surgery only four months earlier.
He had played seven matches for Al-Hilal at that point. He never really played for them again.
2025: The Meniscus
Neymar returned to Santos, the club where he started, in January 2025.
On November 19, 2025, against Mirassol, he picked up a meniscus injury that ended his season. It was his fourth injury of that calendar year. He had an arthroscopic procedure on the medial meniscus in December.
He missed Santos's first nine games of 2026, and the club delayed his return to avoid another setback.
2026: The Thigh
On September 2, 2026, in the Copa do Brasil quarterfinal second leg against Palmeiras, Neymar limped off with a thigh injury. He faces around two months out.
As of early September 2026 he had made 41 appearances for Santos and scored 17 goals.
What the Record Actually Shows
Two things stand out.
The first is how much of it is contact. The vertebra, the ACL, the Serbia ankle: none of those are wear and tear. They are challenges.
The second is the clustering. The metatarsal went twice in twelve months. The 2023 ACL came four months after ankle surgery. The 2025 meniscus was his fourth injury of the year. Injuries have tended to arrive on the back of other injuries.
Between them they have taken two World Cup campaigns off a player who has only ever had four.
How many games has Neymar missed through injury?
He missed 101 games for Paris Saint-Germain alone between 2017 and 2023. That figure does not include his Barcelona, Al-Hilal or Santos absences, or the international matches.
What injury did Neymar get at the 2014 World Cup?
A fractured vertebra, after Colombia's Juan Camilo Zúñiga caught him in the back with a knee in the quarterfinal on July 4, 2014. He missed the 7-1 semifinal defeat to Germany.
When did Neymar tear his ACL?
On October 17, 2023, playing for Brazil against Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier in Montevideo. He tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee in the 44th minute after a collision with Nicolás de la Cruz.
Is Neymar injured right now?
He picked up a thigh injury on September 2, 2026, against Palmeiras in the Copa do Brasil and is expected to be out for around two months. ## Sources Injury dates and matches missed at PSG compiled from [Goal](https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/neymar-injury-history-psg-brazil-games-missed/blt90a8da42ce5bda13). The 2023 ACL rupture as reported by [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2023/10/19/brazils-neymar-to-have-surgery-after-acl-and-meniscus-injury). World Cup injuries via [Yahoo Sports](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/every-major-injury-neymar-suffered-200400165.html).