--- title: Kids Practicing the Neymar Is the Most Hilarious Video description: The Brazil team's star forward is known for intricate footwork, powerful offense—and flopping. canonical: https://time.com/5331753/neymar-parody-video/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-06T15:23:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:42.274Z og:title: Young Soccer Players Had Way Too Much Fun Mocking Neymar og:description: Brazil's forward is known for footwork, powerful offense and...flopping og:url: https://time.com/5331753/neymar-parody-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae378e08b28de9f7/6988a318cf40a8b081c44895/neymar-brazil-gold-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Brazil v Germany - Final: Men's Football - Olympics: Day 15 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Young Soccer Players Had Way Too Much Fun Mocking Neymar twitter:description: Brazil's forward is known for footwork, powerful offense and...flopping twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae378e08b28de9f7/6988a318cf40a8b081c44895/neymar-brazil-gold-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hilarious Young Soccer Players Had Way Too Much Fun Doing 'the Neymar' by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 6, 2018 3:23 PM UTC  Neymar of Brazil celebrates scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shoot out during the Men's Football Final between Brazil and Germany at the Maracana Stadium on Day 15 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Aug. 20, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Neymar of Brazil celebrates scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shoot out during the Men's Football Final between Brazil and Germany at the Maracana Stadium on Day 15 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Aug. 20, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Laurence Griffiths—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 6, 2018 3:23 PM UTC There’s no doubt that Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, better known as Neymar, is one of the greatest soccer players alive. The Brazilian team’s forward, who also plays for Paris Saint-Germain, is known for intricate footwork, fierce attacking, powerful offense, and spot-on shooting on goal, all of which has helped Brazil’s national team advance to the quarter final round of the [2018 World Cup](http://time.com/5329250/japanese-fans-thank-you-world-cup/). However, Neymar is also known for something slightly more ignominious—[flopping](http://time.com/5328519/neymar-stepped-on/). Fans are used to seeing Neymar dropping to the ground, rolling around, clutching his injury until the referee notices and ideally gives him a free kick or penalty shot. Once the ref makes his call, Neymar pops up, seemingly recovered, and ready to return to play. It’s a move he pulls a lot. In fact, a Swiss television station attempted to tally up all the time he’d spent on the turf during his team’s first four [World Cup](http://time.com/5329361/sexism-harassment-world-cup/) [matches](https://twitter.com/i/events/1014862790345961472). While flopping is frustrating for fans—and referees can dole out dreaded yellow cards as punishment for halting playing time—it can work and earn a free kick for his team. That’s why at least one soccer coach seems to be instructing young players in the fine art of flopping, just like Neymar. In a tweet making the rounds, a Swiss youth club coach has started to include “Neymar exercises” into their soccer practice where they seeming dive to the ground, writhing in pain. [_Deadspin_ translates](https://deadspin.com/neymars-theatrical-diving-is-already-corrupting-the-you-1827360733) the tweet as: “Swiss football clubs have added ‘Neymar exercises’ to ‘soccer training’ in their infrastructure!!” > [](https://twitter.com/nihatbehramoglu/status/1014823556465725447) While it is (most likely) a joke and the kids are clearly having a lot of fun learning from their [soccer](http://time.com/5314646/fifa-world-cup-2018-russia-shocks-surprises/) idol, Neymar’s on-field antics have been brutally mocked by the internet. After he flopped during a match against Switzerland and [rolled a number of yards](https://twitter.com/RealitySocial/status/1012045582595215365) down the field, #NeymarRolling started trending on Twitter. Now, the brands are noticing. As [_USA Today_ points out](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2018/07/05/world-cup-2018-neymar-flopping-mocked-hilarious-kfc-commercial/762025002/), KFC’s South African franchises [created a minute-long ad](https://twitter.com/JackGrimse/status/1014862194918477824) that skewers Neymar’s roll. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5331753/neymar-parody-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5331753/neymar-parody-video/"},"headline":"Hilarious Young Soccer Players Had Way Too Much Fun Doing 'the Neymar'","datePublished":"2018-07-06T15:23:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:42.274Z","description":"Brazil's star forward is known for intricate footwork, powerful offense and flopping","url":"https://time.com/5331753/neymar-parody-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Neymar","FIFA World Cup","Sports","World Cup 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae378e08b28de9f7/6988a318cf40a8b081c44895/neymar-brazil-gold-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae378e08b28de9f7/6988a318cf40a8b081c44895/neymar-brazil-gold-rio.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Brazil v Germany - Final: Men's Football - Olympics: Day 15","caption":"Brazil v Germany - Final: Men's Football - Olympics: Day 15","creditText":"Laurence Griffiths—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5331753/neymar-parody-video/","name":"Hilarious Young Soccer Players Had Way Too Much Fun Doing 'the Neymar'"}}]}] ```