{"id":2479,"date":"2026-01-07T19:14:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2026-01-07T19:14:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:14:38","slug":"brazil-forward-neymar-extends-contract-through-2026-season-santos-is-my-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=2479","title":{"rendered":"Brazil Forward Neymar Extends Contract Through 2026 Season: &#039;Santos is My Place&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>Brazil forward Neymar has extended his contract with Santos until the end of 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>The 33-year-old striker, who is hoping to play in next summer&#8217;s FIFA Men&#8217;s World Cup, rejoined Santos one year ago, and, despite some injury struggles, helped his boyhood club avoid relegation from Brazil\u2019s top-flight division.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>His contract was set to expire in July. The club confirmed the extension late Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>The former Barcelona star described 2025 as &#8220;a special and challenging year for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>&#8220;Moments of joy and resilience that I was only capable of facing because of your love,&#8221; Neymar said in the club\u2019s statement. &#8220;Santos is my place. Here I feel at home, safe and happy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>Neymar\u2019s first stint at Santos took place between 2009 and 2013. He returned last January after leaving Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal. The striker scored 12 goals and provided six assists in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>Neymar underwent minor surgery on his left knee in December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd>Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti, appointed in May, has yet to pick Neymar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd><i>Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-746446fd><i>Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? <\/i><i>Create or log in to your FOX Sports account<\/i><i>, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Brazil forward Neymar has extended his contract with Santos until the end of 2026. The 33-year-old striker, who is hoping to play in next summer&#8217;s FIFA Men&#8217;s World Cup, rejoined Santos one year ago, and, despite some injury struggles, helped his boyhood club avoid relegation from Brazil\u2019s top-flight division. His contract [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}