India, 24th July 2018: Neymar Jr took to the field for the first time this season as the two strongest five-a-side football teams in the world were crowned at the Neymar Jr’s Five World Final in Praia Grande, Brazil. After 178 matches and 589 goals, Mexico (Mixed) and Brazil (Female) came out on top at the Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr in the neighbourhood where the Brazilian grew up. Neymar Jr’s Five is the largest five-a-side football tournament in the world, organised by energy drink giant Red Bull.
Neymar Jr’s Five 2018 National Champions, Joga Bonito Mumbai represented India in Brazil in the World finals, and gained valuable experience with historic wins against Chile & Luxembourge to qualify for the knock out rounds. Not only India wins a match at Neymar Jr’s Five World finals for the first time but also qualifies for the round of 32 (knock out rounds). Team India (Anthony Machado, Johnson Dsilva, Mervin Stephen, Preetam Mahadik, Daniel Fernandes, Scott Dsouza and Pratik Kadam) convincingly outplayed Chile & Luxembourg 5-0 in Group J to qualify for the knock out rounds to face Colombia. India gave a tough fight to Colombia but fell short by the golen goal, leading the latter to a win 2-1 and qualifying for the round of 16. Colombia beat Australia & Brazil in Round 16 and Quarter Finals respectively to face Argentina in the semi-finals. Replay of all the matches and results – www.neymarjrsfive.com
Team Joga Bonito Mumbai, India Captain Daniel Fernandes said, “It is so awesome to be in Brazil and respresent India, a country of crores of people and from 2809 teams emerge as Neymar Jr’s Five 2018 National Champions. The level here is extremely high. It’s a 10 minutes game, the ball doesn’t go out and you need to play continuously, so a lot energy you need to put in along with a strong game plan. 10 years back when we started our club we had decided to play in Brazil someday beacause our team’s name as you know is Joga Bonito which is representative of Brazil and thanks to Red Bull, this is where we have come now. We are so elated that we beat a strong team like chile and gave a tough fight to Colombia who were eventual semi-finalists. Our dream of seeing our role model Neymar Jr. so close in person has come true.”
Over 125,000 players signed up for a qualifier in this year’s competition as elite five-a-side players battled it out in 62 countries across six continents. Mexico won all nine games they played, including a 5-2 win over Argentina in the final, to land the title in the mixed competition. The honour of being the first ever female world champions went to the home nation Brazil, who went unbeaten throughout the tournament and narrowly overcame Italy 1-0 in a final which had to be settled by a 1v1 ‘golden goal’. Both world champion teams will get an exclusive behind the scenes trip to visit Neymar Jr at Paris Saint-Germain. Deportivo Mago (Mexico) and Resenha 013 (Brazil) join Tao United from Romania (2017) and Anjos Da Bola from Brazil (2016) as winners of the prestigious tournament, organised by Red Bull.
Neymar Jr watched the semi-finals and finals from the stands with friends and family, before stepping onto the field with his own special team to face the world champions in two memorable matches. A little over a week since his season ended in Russia, the Paris Saint-Germain star laced up his boots once again to score his first goals of the new campaign. Close friend, fellow Brazilian, and PSG teammate Dani Alves also joined Neymar Jr in attending the event as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.
He said, “It makes me really proud and gives me an amazing happiness to bring all these countries, with different cultures, to know not only Brazil but also the Instituto and the area where I was raised. It felt really good to be at home after a lot of suffering. It was my first game after the World Cup and I am really happy to be here. I watched a lot of games and I am happy to see the competition growing, with a lot of teams taking part. Football is for everyone of all ages and for everyone that loves it. To make a championship that highlights that makes me really happy.”
