Neymar faces a lengthy ban after insulting the referee and women

Santos v Remo - Brasileirao 2026

The Selecao legend under fire

Brazilian star Neymar Jr has faced a wave of criticism on social media following a controversial statement he made on Friday.

Neymar expressed his anger – after his team Santos beat Remo 2-0 in the Brazilian league – at referee Sávio Pereira Sampaio, who showed him a yellow card in the closing minutes, meaning he will be suspended for the upcoming match against Flamengo.

Real Madrid are not Atalanta... Kane sounds the alarm in Munich

Vinícius out for Real Madrid ahead of Bayern Munich clash... and Díaz joins Mbappé

Europe and racism: England leads the way in tackling the issue... and Yamal suffers from Vinícius's weakness

Neymar said in post-match comments to the press: “Anyway, this referee too… I think he woke up on his period and came to the match in that state.”

This remark sparked widespread outrage as it was deemed a discriminatory insult, linking poor performance or a bad mood to women’s menstrual cycles, which many described as a “misogynistic” comment.

For its part, the British newspaper The Sun reported that the former Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona star faces a 12-match ban over the remark.