Neymar Faces Outrage Over Sexist Comment About Referee After Santos Victory

Neymar Jr has found himself in the spotlight again, but this time, for the wrong reasons. The Brazilian icon, now playing for Santos in his home country, has found himself under fire for a sexist comment about the referee. After being shown a yellow card by referee Savio Pereira Sampaio during Santos’ 2-0 win over Remo in the Brazilian Serie A, Neymar insinuated that the match official was menstruating.

During the closing stages of the match, Neymar was fouled by Diego Hernandez, with the latter being irked by the former Barcelona player’s feigned shot during a free-kick. After Neymar complained to Sampaio about the tackle, he was shown a yellow card, as was Hernandez.

This was his third booking in four league games, meaning he will miss the next match against Flamengo. The 34-year-old was clearly not happy with the referee’s decision and made it clear in a bizarre post-match interview with Canal Premiere.

“This card is unfair. I was on the receiving end of a dangerous, unnecessary tackle at the end of the match,” Neymar said. “It wasn’t the first, but the third or fourth. I went to protest and received a yellow card.”

“That’s Savio for you. He woke up like ‘chico’ (in a bad mood) and came onto the pitch in that state,” he continued. “He wants to be the star of the match, he’s incredibly disrespectful to the players, he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t discuss anything, he’s the kind of guy who dictates the game, who wants to control everything. He needs to learn to manage that. It’s disrespectful.”

In Portuguese, “estar de chico” is an incredibly sexist slang term that implies that a woman is on her period. It comes from the word “chiqueiro”, which means “pigsty”, coming from an era where menstruation was viewed as dirty or unclean.

As a result, Neymar’s comments have been taken to mean that Sampaio showed him a yellow card because he was on his period.

Neymar Faces Backlash

Several media houses in Brazil picked up Neymar’s quote, calling it sexist and outdated. ESPN Brazil journalist Mariana Pereira took to social media to write, “How easy it is to use sexist and discriminatory expressions. For years, women have been shamed because of menstruation. A natural biological process is treated as something dirty.”

Meanwhile, Neymar has yet to comment on the controversy. It remains unclear whether this will impact his already fading chances of making it into the Brazil squad for the FIFA World Cup 2026. The veteran forward was left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s roster for the recent warm-up games against France and Croatia.

There’s also a chance that Neymar may be fined or banned by the Brazilian football authorities for his comments. Earlier this month, Red Bull Bragantino defender Gustavo Marques was handed a 12-game ban for sexist comments against a referee.