Account
CBF Bosses Disagree on Neymar Playing in Copa America Amid Rape Allegations
June 5, 2019
The president and vice-president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) are in disagreement on whether Neymar should play for Brazil in the Copa America amid the rape allegations made against him.
On Friday, a woman filed a police report in Brazil alleging that Neymar raped her in a Paris hotel room on May 15.
Per Sport, CBF president Rogerio Cabocio said on Tuesday: "We have complete confidence in him, we know the person he is, the man he is and the sportsman he is. The CBF have total confidence that [the allegations] will be cleared up as quickly as possible."
However, vice-president Francisco Noveletto told SBT (h/t Sport): "If I have to bet, I would bet on him not playing in the Copa America. He's not in the right condition psychologically to play a Copa America and battle with a flock of journalists."
"He's not going to perform," he added. "Imagine that emotional strain... If he doesn't play, everyone wins."
On Sunday, Neymar uploaded a video to Instagram in which he denied the allegations:
The Paris Saint-Germain star included messages exchanged between himself and the woman as well as photos of the two in the video.
Per Goal, in sharing the pictures—some of which were censored because of their sexual content—without her consent, the Selecao forward may have broken the law in Brazil and police are also investigating that.
Instagram removed the video because it violated its rules.
Noveletto added: "If Neymar plays, Brazil might not make [the trophy]. I know the press and the press will be on top of him. There are a lot more things to appear. A friend of mine in Rio de Janeiro told me there's another video which is going to drop."
Though Neymar has not been charged with a crime, police visited him at the national team's training ground to inform him of the allegations.
Brazil are gearing up to host the Copa America, in which they'll begin their campaign against Bolivia on June 14.
Prior to that, they'll face Qatar in a friendly on Wednesday and Honduras on Sunday.