Why Is Neymar Jr. Not Playing Tonight for Brazil vs Morocco at the World Cup?

Brazil will play its first match of the 2026 World Cup against Morocco, which has become a stronger team from the 2022 World Cup that reached the semifinals.

Brazil will have their usual big names in the starting lineup, like Vinicius Junior and Raphinha, but they will be without the biggest name of their World Cup squad, Neymar Junior.

Neymar no longer plays in Europe and is a Santos FC player, but he was called up by Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti for the Brazil World Cup roster.

Brazil played two friendly matches before the World Cup, and Neymar played in neither of them. Neymar suffered a muscle injury a few weeks ago, which ruled him out for those friendly matches against Panama and Egypt.

Neymar is with the Brazil World Cup camp in the United States, but he is not included in the starting lineup or the bench.

Neymar will not play today, but he is not ruled out for the World Cup due to the muscle injury he suffered. Neymar is currently recovering from his injury and is expected to be back soon.

Carlo Ancelotti on Neymar's Injury

This past week, rumors sparked that Neymar's injury is more serious than expected and could miss the entire group stage for Brazil in this World Cup.

Before the Brazil vs Morocco match, Carlo Ancelotti spoke about Neymar's situation and insisted that his recovery is going well and could be back sooner than expected.

Ancelotti said, "Neymar is working very hard to recover as quickly as possible. The expectation is that he will recover and rejoin the group next week. When we call up Neymar, we call him not only for his technical quality, which is indisputable, but also for his experience & the example he can set for the young players in this group."

Neymar could get minutes for Brazil's next game at the World Cup, which is against Haiti on June 19, 2026.

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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 2:59 PM.