When Carlo Ancelotti announced Brazil’s 26-man World Cup squad on May 18, the name that produced the loudest reaction was not Vinicius Júnior, not Raphinha, not Endrick. It was the name that had been absent from the Seleção for the better part of two years — the name that, for a generation of Brazilian football supporters, still means something that no other name quite captures.
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior is going to the World Cup. Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, called up for the first time by Ancelotti after the Italian took over in May 2025, will be in North America this summer. The coach, who had not summoned Neymar until Monday’s announcement, confirmed the inclusion after extending his own contract with the Brazilian Football Confederation through the 2030 World Cup last week.
The announcement dominated Brazilian football conversation for 48 hours. It should not have. The more consequential story in Ancelotti’s squad is quieter, more technically interesting, and will shape how Brazil actually plays in Group C — not whether a 33-year-old returning from injury can recapture a version of himself that most observers had quietly concluded was gone.
The Squad in Full:
Goalkeepers: Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Fenerbahce), Weverton (Grêmio)
Defenders: Marquinhos (PSG), Gabriel Magalhães (Arsenal), Bremer (Juventus), Leo Pereira (Flamengo), Ibañez (Al-Ahli), Wesley (Roma), Danilo (Juventus), Alex Sandro, Douglas Santos (Zenit).
Midfielders: Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle), Casemiro (Manchester United), Lucas Paquetá (Flamengo), Fabinho (Al-Ittihad), Danilo Santos (Botafogo).
Strikers: Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid), Raphinha (Barcelona), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Matheus Cunha (Manchester United), Igor Thiago (Brentford), Endrick (Lyon), Luiz Henrique (Zenit), Neymar (Santos), Rayan (Bournemouth).
The Neymar Question
Neymar’s return to the Seleção after a prolonged absence — marked by two serious knee injuries, a spell at Al-Hilal that produced minimal football, and a return to boyhood club Santos — is the emotional centerpiece of Brazil’s World Cup narrative. It is not, however, a straightforward football decision.
Ancelotti has had a troubled spell in Brazil so far, with many injured players out of his World Cup squad. Strikers Rodrygo and Estevão are the ones he will miss most in North America. The loss of Rodrygo in particular — who would have been the natural link player between Vinicius and the midfield — is significant.
Neymar’s inclusion addresses that creative gap, in theory, if he can stay fit and find anything resembling his best form.
The honest assessment is that Neymar at Santos in 2026 is not Neymar at Barcelona in 2015, or even Neymar at PSG in 2022. He is 33, playing in the Brazilian second division after Al-Hilal released him, and has not completed a full season of football since 2023. Ancelotti’s decision to include him over João Pedro of Chelsea — a 24-year-old Premier League forward who was excluded — reflects either a conviction that Neymar’s class is irreducible, or a calculation that Brazil needs his specific creativity rather than generic Premier League production.
Both explanations contain truth.
The Real Story: Endrick vs. Vinicius
The subplot that Brazilian football media has been circling without quite addressing directly is the one that matters most for how Ancelotti’s team will appear on the pitch in North America.
Endrick is one to watch after impressing on loan at Lyon after a January move from Real Madrid. Vinicius Júnior has already delivered multiple titles under Ancelotti at Real Madrid and should start on the left of the attack.
What that framing obscures is the statistical reality of their seasons. Endrick, on loan at Lyon, finished the Ligue 1 campaign as one of the most efficient forwards in France — goals per minute, shots on target percentage, conversion rate. Vinicius, at Real Madrid, had a season that was productive but not dominant — he has eight goals in 45 appearances for Brazil’s national team, a return that does not reflect his club-level ceiling.
The gap between what Vinicius does for Real Madrid and what he produces for Brazil has been a persistent tension throughout Ancelotti's tenure with the Seleção.
Vinicius himself acknowledged the complexity heading into the tournament:
“We are not the favorites based on the results we’ve had. We want to arrive at the World Cup the same way we’re approaching the friendlies — calm, patient and focused on what we’ve been working on.”
For a player who was the 2024 Ballon d’Or runner-up and has won two Champions League titles, the measured language reflects how turbulent the road to this World Cup has been for Brazil — three coaches before Ancelotti, a 4-1 loss to Argentina that ended Dorival Júnior’s tenure, and a fifth-place finish in qualifying that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
The question Ancelotti must answer is whether Endrick — who has been more effective than Vinicius by most metrics this season — gets his opportunity to start, or whether the political and symbolic weight of Vinicius as Brazil’s figurehead means he plays regardless of form.
Ancelotti has historically rewarded performance over reputation. He also has a deep personal relationship with Vinicius from their years together at Real Madrid. The tension between those two factors will define Brazil’s attacking identity in North America.
Absences That Hurt
The squad also excluded legendary defender Thiago Silva of Porto. Silva has appeared for the Seleção in the past four World Cups — 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 — and is regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation. His absence closes a chapter in Brazilian football that began when he was 25 years old and spanned the worst period in the program's modern history — including the 7-1 defeat to Germany in 2014, which happened while he served a suspension.
Richarlison and Estevão both miss the tournament through injury. Rodrygo’s absence is the most damaging of the three — he was the connective tissue of Brazil’s attack and his replacement by Neymar is a bet on mythology over demonstrated 2026 form.
Brazil’s Group Path
Brazil plays all three group stage matches on the East Coast of the United States — against Morocco at MetLife Stadium on June 13, Haiti at Lincoln Financial Field on June 19, and Scotland at Hard Rock Stadium on June 24.
The group is considered tough on paper because of Morocco’s run to the 2022 semi-finals, but Brazil are heavy favourites to top it. Before the tournament, Brazil plays warm-up friendlies against Panama on May 31 at the Maracanã and Egypt on June 6 in the United States.
The official squad presentation takes place on May 27 at the Granja Comary training centre in Teresópolis.
Brazil has the fourth-shortest odds to win the World Cup at +800, equal to defending champion Argentina, behind Spain, England, and France. A country that has not won a World Cup since 2002 — the longest drought in the program’s history — goes to North America as an underdog by its own standards, with a 66-year-old Italian manager, a recovering legend, and a 19-year-old on loan from Real Madrid as its most in-form forward.
Whether that combination produces the fifth star or another quarter-final exit is the question 215 million Brazilians are living with between now and June 13.
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