This Saturday (2), Largo da Batata in São Paulo (SP) hosted the national final of Neymar Jr.’s Five, the soccer star’s 5-on-5 amateur soccer tournament. After qualifying rounds held in the country’s five regions, ten mixed-gender teams and nine women’s teams faced off to determine the two Brazilian spots in the event’s global finals. Both teams, which qualified in the São Paulo coast qualifiers, Ginga Street and Resenha 013 were crowned national champions and will face the winners from more than 60 countries in the final, scheduled for late July at the Neymar Jr. Project Institute in Praia Grande (SP), with the striker in attendance.
Neymar Jr’s Five reached its third edition and, for the first time, featured a women-only category. In the women’s teams’ debut in the competition, Resenha 013 came out on top. Andreza Castro, Nastassia Almeida, Fernanda Peinado, Marynara Castanheira, Edely Meirelles, and Taliani Amparo won the qualifying round held in Santos and, in the national final, faced off against Donas da Bola from Campinas. The Santos team took the lead, going up 2–0, but minutes later conceded the equalizer, which stood until the end of the match. The result sent the match to a “1×1” shootout to decide the champions, and Andreza Castro scored the winning goal in one of the most memorable moments of Saturday’s action.
“We’re so happy. I feel very proud to have helped my team secure this victory,” said Andreza. “We’re definitely going to go for the world title. And when I play against Neymar, I’m going to nutmeg him,” she joked.
In the mixed category, Ginga Street—which also qualified through the Santos preliminary round, even though its players are from the city of São Paulo—faced the experienced Arram FC from Porto Alegre (RS), a tournament veteran competing in its third national final. Diego Oliveira, Kelwin Soares, Lucas Nishioka, Henry Shosi, Luis Henrique Alencar, and Nicolas Mateus took the court with a fast-paced game and sealed a 3–1 victory over the team from Rio Grande do Sul, securing their spot in the national championship game.
“Happiness—that’s the word. We’re friends, and we all really identify with street soccer, so we decided to try out for a spot this year. From the very beginning, we felt we could make this dream come true; we believed in ourselves,” said Diego. “We want to win; we’re going to train for that—and especially to play against Neymar,” he added.
The winners, who received their award from Gustavo Almeida, one of Neymar’s “buddies,” will wear the Brazilian jersey in the Neymar Jr.’s Five world final on July 20 and 21, competing against more than 60 countries, including Germany, Argentina, Spain, France, and Russia, among others. Neymar Jr. will be present at the grand final, held at his Institute, and will play against the world champions, who will also be rewarded with a trip to Europe to get an up-close look at the player’s daily routine.
