Can Neymar make it to Brazil squad for FIFA World Cup 2026? Coach Ancelotti reveals Brazil star Neymar still has time to recover from recent injuries and return to form well enough to play in this summer’s FIFA World Cup, according to Brazil’s coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“He is capable of getting back to 100 per cent,” Ancelotti told L’Equipe in response to questions about Neymar. “He is being assessed by the CBF (Brazil’s Football Confederation) and by me, and he still has two months to show that he has what it takes to play in the next World Cup.”
A fixture on the Brazilian national team starting in 2013, Neymar hasn’t played for his country since 2023 when he began dealing with left knee issues.
He had minor surgery on the knee on December 22, and over the international break in early April, he reportedly underwent platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment to further aid in his recovery.
“After his knee injury (in December), Neymar has made a good recovery,” Ancelotti said. “He’s scoring goals. He needs to keep going down this path and improve his fitness. He’s on the right track.”
The 34-year-old, who has scored more goals for Brazil than anyone else (79), has openly discussed his desire to be on Brazil’s World Cup team this summer for the tournament in North America.
Neymar is currently the captain of Santos in Serie A, Brazil’s top football league, where his contract expires at the end of the calendar year. He formerly was one of the world’s best attacking players during his time with Barcelona (2013-17) and Paris Saint-Germain (2017-23), playing alongside Lionel Messi with both clubs.
An ankle injury slowed Neymar before his departure from Paris Saint-Germain, leading to a stint with Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, where his brief tenure was halted by a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He returned to action in January 2025 when he made the move to Santos.
In five games for Santos this season, Neymar has three goals and two assists. He had missed the previous two games for Santos but played all 90 minutes in Saturday’s 1-0 league win over Atletico Mineiro.
“Neymar is improving with every game,” Santos coach Cuca said after Saturday’s match, per ESPN. “He’s been staying behind to train. His movement on the ball is much better and he’s likely to get even better. It’s risky to play him for the full 90 minutes; we’ll see if he can handle it, and we’ll work towards him playing on Tuesday.”
Last season, his first year playing professionally in his home nation, he tallied eight goals and one assist in 20 games (17 starts).
“Neymar has made, and continues to make, history in Brazilian football,” Ancelotti said. “He is a great talent and it’s only natural that people think he can help us win the next World Cup.”
However, Neymar has not been included on any of Ancelotti’s squads since the Italian took over the team last June.
“I’ve said this several times, and it’s very clear: I’ll call up the players who are physically ready,” Ancelotti said.
Published on Apr 14, 2026
#Neymar #Brazil #squad #FIFA #World #Cup #Coach #Ancelotti #reveals
Brazil star Neymar still has time to recover from recent injuries and return to form well enough to play in this summer’s FIFA World Cup, according to Brazil’s coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“He is capable of getting back to 100 per cent,” Ancelotti told L’Equipe in response to questions about Neymar. “He is being assessed by the CBF (Brazil’s Football Confederation) and by me, and he still has two months to show that he has what it takes to play in the next World Cup.”
A fixture on the Brazilian national team starting in 2013, Neymar hasn’t played for his country since 2023 when he began dealing with left knee issues.
He had minor surgery on the knee on December 22, and over the international break in early April, he reportedly underwent platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment to further aid in his recovery.
“After his knee injury (in December), Neymar has made a good recovery,” Ancelotti said. “He’s scoring goals. He needs to keep going down this path and improve his fitness. He’s on the right track.”
The 34-year-old, who has scored more goals for Brazil than anyone else (79), has openly discussed his desire to be on Brazil’s World Cup team this summer for the tournament in North America.
Neymar is currently the captain of Santos in Serie A, Brazil’s top football league, where his contract expires at the end of the calendar year. He formerly was one of the world’s best attacking players during his time with Barcelona (2013-17) and Paris Saint-Germain (2017-23), playing alongside Lionel Messi with both clubs.
An ankle injury slowed Neymar before his departure from Paris Saint-Germain, leading to a stint with Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, where his brief tenure was halted by a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He returned to action in January 2025 when he made the move to Santos.
In five games for Santos this season, Neymar has three goals and two assists. He had missed the previous two games for Santos but played all 90 minutes in Saturday’s 1-0 league win over Atletico Mineiro.
“Neymar is improving with every game,” Santos coach Cuca said after Saturday’s match, per ESPN. “He’s been staying behind to train. His movement on the ball is much better and he’s likely to get even better. It’s risky to play him for the full 90 minutes; we’ll see if he can handle it, and we’ll work towards him playing on Tuesday.”
Last season, his first year playing professionally in his home nation, he tallied eight goals and one assist in 20 games (17 starts).
“Neymar has made, and continues to make, history in Brazilian football,” Ancelotti said. “He is a great talent and it’s only natural that people think he can help us win the next World Cup.”
However, Neymar has not been included on any of Ancelotti’s squads since the Italian took over the team last June.
“I’ve said this several times, and it’s very clear: I’ll call up the players who are physically ready,” Ancelotti said.
Published on Apr 14, 2026
![Vox Creative, Roku debut new docuseries on history of American soccer The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends. #Vox #Creative #Roku #debut #docuseries #history #American #soccer](https://i3.wp.com/platform.sbnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/gettyimages-2273772608.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.740350081171%2C100%2C78.519299837658&w=1200&ssl=1 "Vox Creative, Roku debut new docuseries on history of American soccer The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends. #Vox #Creative #Roku #debut #docuseries #history #American #soccer")
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