Neymar’s bizarre penalty technique from his teenage years at Santos re-emerge on social media as fans reminisce over Brazilian’s ‘cheat code’ run-up so deceptive it forced FIFA to change their rules
- Neymar’s previous penalty routine once forced FIFA to change the rules for the build-up
- The Brazilian often feinted just before hitting the ball to gain an advantage
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It seems like a lifetime ago since a young Brazilian star named Neymar burst onto the scene at Santos before going on to star for Barcelona, PSG and now Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.
Now 32 and seemingly in the final years of his career, fans of the South American recall how he once caused FIFA to change the rules on penalty kicks due to the effectiveness of his penalty technique.
Neymar scored 73 goals in 142 games for Santos before securing a dream move to Barcelona in 2013 for an initial £49 million.
Now a video has gone viral showing the superstar scoring penalties with his previously unusual style during his breakout years at Santos, which he was eventually forced to retire from.
The Brazilian icon scored 11 of the 14 penalties he took for Santos, with at least five converted via Neymar’s earlier unusual run-up.
Neymar burst onto the scene as a youngster at Brazilian club Santos before joining Barcelona
The penalty kick technique that Neymar used at the beginning of his career was eventually banned by FIFA
Often Neymar would pick up the ball and place it on the spot, approaching his shot before stopping just in front of the ball, waiting for the goalkeeper to dive and then roll his effort into the opposite corner.
The opposition goalkeepers believe the move gave the spot kicker an unfair advantage as it slowed down their reaction time to a save.
Neymar would stop just before hitting the ball, forcing the goalkeeper to dive early
His action contributed to FIFA imposing a ban fourteen years ago, preventing the feint from being used by players in the professional game.
The world football body labeled Neymar’s previous penalty technique as ‘unsportsmanlike’ and changed the law so that players cannot stop running before hitting the ball.
A document released by FIFA at the time of the ruling states: ‘Pretending to kick the ball after the player has completed his run-up is considered an offense under Law 14 and an act of unsportsmanlike conduct for which the player must be warned.’
The change meant that players had to travel in forward motion at all times when running forward to take a penalty, often changing the previous feint to a small jump.
