Carlo Ancelotti left Neymar out of Brazil’s squad for the March friendlies against France and Croatia, citing fitness concerns. “Neymar can be at the World Cup if he’s 100%,” Ancelotti said at the time.
When the final 26-man World Cup squad was announced on May 18, fans outside the venue chanted his name before Ancelotti confirmed his inclusion, and when it came, Neymar reportedly broke down in tears and two weeks later, he is back on the sideline.
Although a Grade 2 calf strain, picked up during Santos’ defeat to Coritiba on May 17, ruled him out of Brazil’s 6-2 win over Panama on Saturday.
Ancelotti has confirmed his World Cup place is secure, targeting a return for Brazil’s second group game against Haiti on June 19, but the 34-year-old, who has not played for Brazil since an ACL tear in October 2023, is watching from the sidelines.
But what Neymar was wearing on those sidelines got more attention than most of what happened on the pitch.
Photos from the Maracanã warmup showed Neymar in the Nike Shox R4 “Brasil”, a black and silver sneaker with gold detailing, the CBF crest on the tongue, and “Brasil” text stitched beneath it. But for a player who has been a Puma athlete since 2020, wearing Nike sparked immediate confusion online.
The explanation is straightforward, but it cuts to the heart of how kit sponsorship actually works in international football.
Nike is the official supplier of the CBF, meaning all Brazil players wear Nike apparel during national team commitments regardless of personal endorsement deals, training, warmups, travel kit. Boots are the one exception: players wear whatever their individual contracts dictate on the pitch.
It is the same logic that applies to Cristiano Ronaldo, a Nike athlete who wears Puma boots and Puma kit whenever he plays for Portugal, because Puma holds the federation deal. The player’s personal sponsor follows them onto the pitch; the federation’s sponsor dresses them everywhere else.
Neymar left Nike in 2020 after a 15-year association that began when he was 13, signing with Puma in a deal reported to be worth £23 million a year, at the time, the largest individual sports sponsorship contract ever signed. That deal made him Puma’s biggest football name.
But it does not override the CBF’s arrangement with Nike when he pulls on the yellow shirt, which is why seeing him in the Shox R4 is not a contradiction, it is simply the system working as it always has.
The Shox R4 “Brasil” was released on March 23, 2026, priced at $155 through Nike’s official website and select retailers. The colorway, black, metallic pewter, light photo blue, and canary gold, nods to Brazil’s national colours without leaning on the obviousgreen and the CBF crest sits on the tongue alongside five stars for Brazil’s five World Cup titles.
The design struck a nerve, blending the Shox R4’s 2000s nostalgia with deliberate Brazilian identity and given the visibility Saturday’s images generated, StockX listed the shoe around $95, below retail price.
Neymar has waited over two years to wear the yellow shirt again. He did not get his game on Saturday, and he may not get one before the World Cup begins, but the images from the Maracanã told their own story, a player back where he belongs, giving Nike one of the most-watched product placements of the week, without even making the teamsheet.
