The 31-year-old star playing for Al Hilal tore the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee in Brazil’s 2026 World Cup qualifying loss to Uruguay on October 17, before undergoing surgery two weeks later. there. However, Neymar – the player who scored the most goals of all time in official matches for Brazil, with 79 goals in 129 appearances – will not recover in time for South America’s top tournament that will start on September 1. June 20 and ends on July 14 next year.

Brazil team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar told Rede 98: “It is still too early to skip recovery steps and take unnecessary risks. Our expectation is that he will be ready to return at the beginning of the 2024 European season, which is in August. We need to be patient. Talking about returning before 9 months is too early, this is just the global concept of recovery after knee ligament surgery. It is very important to respect biological time, the time the body takes to rebuild that ligament. If we follow those steps correctly and after a long recovery period, the expectation is that he can play again at a high level.”

After 6 years at Paris Saint-Germain, Neymar joined Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League for a transfer fee of 90 million euros in August. However, this player only appeared 5 times for the club. new, scored one goal, before getting injured.

At next year’s Copa America, Brazil is placed in Group D with Colombia, Paraguay and the winner of the play-off between Costa Rica and Honduras. Earlier on Tuesday, the Brazilian Football Federation announced that their team would face Mexico on June 8 in a pre-tournament friendly match.

This is the second time Copa America has taken place outside of South America, and once again the US is the host country – after the first time was the 100th anniversary tournament in 2016. Copa America 2024 will expand to 16 teams, with 10 South American representatives and 6 teams from CONCACAF.