World Cup
Brazilians split about Neymar breaking Pelé’s goal-scoring record
Brazil great Neymar received a plaque for becoming the team’s all-time leading goal-scorer in official matches in the early hours of Saturday.
However, the language used to describe his achievement perhaps shows many in the South American nation still consider three-time World Cup winner Pelé top of that chart.
“To Neymar Jr., the all-time top goal-scorer for the Selecao in matches against national teams,” reads the plaque delivered by the president of the Brazilian soccer confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues, a hardcore Pelé fan. “With your goals you have brought joy to millions of Brazilians and fans all over the world.”
The first goal Neymar scored in Brazil’s 5-1 victory over Bolivia in the opening round of South American World Cup qualifying put him one above Pelé, who died on Dec. 29 aged 82 after a long fight against cancer. The 31-year-old picked up his second goal in injury time, lifting his tally to 79 in 125 appearances.
Neymar’s record-breaking goal came in the 61st minute following a low cross into the penalty box. He celebrated by punching the air, as Pelé usually did.
“I am very happy, no words for this,” Neymar said after he was handed the plaque by Rodrigues. “I never thought I would reach this record.”
Despite celebrations by Neymar and his teammates, the Brazilian soccer confederation was less effusive, as the plaque hinted.
Unlike FIFA, the confederation considers Pelé’s tally to be 95 goals in 114 matches, including those he scored in friendlies against club sides and team selections from Brazilian states.
Santos, the club where Pelé and Neymar started, also doesn’t accept that the Al-Hilal striker broke the record of the man the club and Brazilians call their king.
“The kingdom of soccer,” the club said on its social media channels, posted with an undated picture of Neymar and Pelé.
Brazilian media rejected the idea Neymar had replaced Pelé as the Selecao’s all-time top goal- scorer.
“FIFA despises part of history by not counting all goals by Pelé,” said journalist Mauro Cézar Pereira. Another columnist, Renato Mauricio Prado, described the change at the top of the charts as “an aberration.”
Some of the 18 goals that FIFA does not count for Pelé came against tough club rivals.
Pelé scored twice in Brazil’s 2-2 draw with Inter Milan in 1960. Six years later, he grabbed a hat-trick in a 5-3 victory over Atletico Madrid. Also in 1966, the Brazil icon netted another treble in a 3-1 win over Sweden’s Malmo.
Other goals scored by Pelé for Brazil came against rivals that do not exist today. In 1960, he claimed a hat-trick in a 3-1 triumph over against a combination of Egyptian and Syrian national team players. Nine years later, he netted another for Brazil in a 6-1 win against a selection from the Northeastern state of Pernambuco.
During Pelé’s career, countries often played against clubs. Brazil also used to tour Europe for friendlies, and play against clubs when other national teams were not available.
FIFA’s model to count goals ignores eight goals by Neymar during the Olympics of 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Neither tournament is considered a senior competition.
According to official numbers, Pelé has a superior goal average to Neymar’s for Brazil — and it is higher than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are the all-time top scorers for Argentina and Portugal respectively.
Pelé, with 77 goals in 91 official matches, averages 0.84 goal per game. Neymar has an average of 0.62.
Neymar, who is yet to win a Copa America or a World Cup, took a humbling approach amid all the tributes.
“I want to say this (record) doesn’t mean I am better than him (Pelé) or any national team player,” he said in a short statement. “I always wanted to write my story in the national team and today I did that.”
-AP
With just a year to go until the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in the United States, concerns are mounting over the impact of extreme summer heat on players and fans.
According to experts interviewed by the BBC, FIFA may be forced to adjust match schedules drastically—possibly even staging the World Cup final as early as 9 a.m.—to mitigate the risks posed by soaring temperatures.
The warnings follow sweltering conditions witnessed during recent international and Club World Cup matches held in the U.S., where athletes and spectators alike were exposed to intense heat and humidity.
One of the leading voices raising the alarm is Professor Mike Tipton, an expert in thermal physiology at the University of Portsmouth. Speaking to BBC Sport, he emphasised the potential health risks of playing in extreme conditions and recommended that matches begin as early in the day as possible.
“From a thermo-physiological point of view, for health and performance reasons, I would look to start matches as early as possible,” Tipton stated, suggesting that even the final—traditionally held in the afternoon or evening—could be moved to a morning kickoff.
Tipton went further, noting that the ideal solution would be to host the tournament during a cooler time of year, as was done with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was shifted to November and December due to extreme heat.
However, with the 2026 tournament already locked in for June 11 to July 19, FIFA’s only remaining flexibility lies in scheduling match times.
The 2026 edition will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico across multiple cities, some of which are known for intense summer heat.
Health experts are urging organisers to prioritise player safety and fan well-being, warning that failing to act could lead to performance issues, heat-related illnesses, or worse.
FIFA has yet to publicly comment on any proposed changes to match schedules, but as temperatures continue to rise, pressure is mounting for the governing body to take decisive action ahead of football’s biggest tournament.
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FIFA’s Global Football Development chief Arsene Wenger acknowledged that the quality of pitches hosting Club World Cup matches in the U.S. was not good enough, but insisted it would be better when the country co-hosts the 2026 World Cup.
The pitches, often very dry and sprinkled with water during cooling breaks or at halftime, have been widely criticised, mainly by coaches and players of the European teams taking part.
“I’ve been personally on the pitch at Orlando,” former Arsenal manager Wenger said on Saturday. “It’s not at the level that the European clubs are used to because it’s not perfect, but that will be rectified for the World Cup next year.”
Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique raised the issue early in the expanded Club World Cup tournament.
“The ball bounces like a rabbit,” Luis Enrique said after his team’s opening 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid.
“Today, for example, the field used to be artificial turf, and now it’s natural grass laid over it, which means it has to be watered manually. It’s a big problem for the way we play.”
“FIFA really needs to take this seriously. Not just the stadium fields but also the training pitches. If we’re calling this the best club tournament in the world, it should have world‑class facilities. I can’t imagine an NBA game played on a court full of holes.”
-Reuters
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Congo will be allowed to continue participating in the World Cup qualifiers despite missing two fixtures in March when they were banned, world football’s governing body FIFA said on Wednesday.
Congo were suspended from February to May because of government interference in the running of their football association (FECOFOOT) but the ban was lifted when officials returned to their positions and were handed back access to their headquarters and technical training centre.
Sports minister Hugues Ngouelondele had appointed an ad-hoc committee last year to run the association, claiming it needed to sort out disputes among association office bearers, but FIFA suspended FECOFOOT due to third-party interference, which violates its statutes.
During the ban, Congo were not allowed to participate in any international competition, which meant they did not honour 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Tanzania and Niger in March.
A FIFA spokesman told Reuters the points from those fixtures were forfeited and a 3-0 victory awarded to their opponents.
But they will continue in the qualifiers when they resume in September, even if they have no chance of qualifying.
Congo are scheduled to play Tanzania at home in September and conclude their fixtures in October with matches at Niger and Morocco.
Congo have no points in the group, which Morocco lead with 15 points, six more than Tanzania in second place.
The group winner qualifies for next year’s World Cup in North America while the runner-up has a possibility to participate in playoffs if they are among the four best second-placed teams in the nine African qualifying groups.
FIFA has taken a hard line on government interference in football matters with the likes of Chad, Kenya, Pakistan and Zimbabwe among those banned in recent years.
Congo were African champions in 1972 but have never been to a World Cup.
-Reuters
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