After 13 years of collaboration, Nike ended Neymar’s contract on August 31 (29 years, 31 games and 17 goals in all competitions this season). No explanation was given at the time to justify this unexpected break. But this Friday, the American firm said more. “Nike has terminated its partnership with the athlete because he has refused to cooperate with a good-faith investigation of credible allegations of misconduct by an employee,” the brand said in a comma-style statement to AFP.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a Nike employee accused a Brazilian star of sexually assaulting her in 2016 at a promotional event in New York City. Afterward, Auriwerde reportedly refused to cooperate with the investigation, which has been ongoing since 2019.

Neymar’s father rejected the allegations, blaming the American brand.

“How can news like this come out, He doesn’t even know this girl. This is coming from Nike. It’s very strange, they all leave Nike and they get accused of things like this. It happened with Cristiano Ronaldo, with the basketball guy who died, Kobe (Bryant), they were defamed, like Neymar is being Unfairly Accused now.”

Neymar Sr. told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.