Soccer
Catch up on all of the action from the Neymar Jr's Five World Final in Brazil, where Mexico's Deportivo Mago and local heroines Resenha 013 outplayed them all to be crowned 2018 world champions.
No sooner does Neymar Jr return from starring for his country in the world's biggest football tournament than he's back where it all began for him, at Praia Grande near Santos in Brazil for the third running of his own highly anticipated soccer competition, the Neymar Jr's Five World Final 2018.
After qualifiers in 62 countries that featured 34,944 players in 9,588 matches, only the very best made it to play in the World Final of the planet's biggest five-a-side football tournament at the Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr. Watch the full event again in the player below and then read on to find out who was crowned Neymar Jr's Five 2018 champions.
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After 178 matches played and 589 goals scored, Mexico's Deportivo Mago lifted the trophy as mixed champions, while Brazil celebrated a home win when local girls Resenha 013 became the first-ever women's world champions.
Watch highlights of the Neymar Jr's Five 2018 in the video below:
The Brazilian women went unbeaten throughout the tournament, but the final against Team Italy was a real nail-biter. After remaining goalless during normal time, the match had to be decided by a one-on-one 'golden goal' playoff, where the local team scored first to win 1–0 and claim the Neymar Jr's Five 2018 title, much to the delight of the home crowd.
In contrast, Mexico's title-winning Deportivo Mago didn't even need the full 10 minutes to beat Argentina's Ofensivo in the mixed final. After winning all eight of the their previous matches over the weekend, the Mexicans dominated the final game, running out 5–2 winners over their Argentinian rivals with 1m 10s still left on the clock.
The winning teams couldn't collect their trophies just yet however, because they each lined up again to play one last match against two all-star teams featuring Neymar Jr and friends, who'd been carefully watching the later rounds from the stands.
Mexico suffered a taste of their own medicine, losing 5–2 inside the regulation 10 minutes. However, the Brazilian girls pulled off something of a shock, keeping it tight to triumph 2–1 over a team that not only included Neymar Jr himself, but also stars such as Paris Saint-Germain's Érika and Andressa Alves of FC Barcelona.
Check out the footballing talent on display at Neymar Jr's Five by watching the Top 5 goals of the tournament below:
Football is for everyone, of all ages, and for everyone that loves it. To make a championship that highlights that makes me really happy
"It makes me really proud and gives me amazing happiness to bring all these countries to know not only Brazil, but also the Instituto and the area where I was raised," said Neymar Jr. "It felt really good to be at home after a lot of suffering. It was my first game after Russia and I'm really happy to be here. I watched a lot of games and I'm 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."
What is Neymar Jr's Five?
The name of the event comes from there being five players on each team, but there's little other comparison with regular five-a-side. There are no goalkeepers for a start, and every time someone scores their opponents lose one player, until 10 frenetic minutes are up or one team runs out of players. A draw leads to a one-on-one play-off situation to decide the result. Find out more about Neymar Jr's Five here.
