Neymar's stock falls drastically following the World Cup
In a study by Kantar Sports, the majority of fans reacted negatively towards the player as the tournament went on
Neymar's failure at the World Cup was also reflected by the response to his performances on social media. His exaggerations and dives have undoubtedly hurt Neymar's image. These were the findings of Kantar Sports' study which showed that Neymar's popularity had dropped and criticism of him had increased throughout the tournament.
The study analysed posts on social media which mentioned Neymar from the 1st June, two weeks before the World Cup started, and the 18th July, three days after the final. Ahead of Brazil's debut against Switzerland, 28% of posts about Neymar were negative but following the match it had increased to 61%, and reached a maximum of 68% the day after Brazil were eliminated by Belgium.
Ahead of his debut the neutral messages about Neymar (51%) were superior to the negative ones, while the messages praising him (21%) dropped to 1% following the Belgium match. The study shows that in every hundred comments about Neymar only one was positive. The memes and jokes came from that moment, criticising Neymar for his attitude on the pitch and not his footballing ability.
Another surprising piece of information is the countries in which Neymar was criticised the most. His native Brazil led the way followed by the United States, Mexico, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
