About

The Neymar Challenge is a social game in which people parody soccer player Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, who was widely mocked for his reaction to a foul during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In the challenge, the participants drop to the ground and roll for an extended period of time, much like the player, reacting to a minor injury or a person yelling "Neymar."

Origin

On June 27th, during a World Cup game, Neymar was fouled, and after being hit, dropped to the ground and rolled excessvily. A gif of the moment was uploaded to Twitter ^[1] by @RealitySocial, which received more than 11,000 retweets and 24,000 likes in two weeks.

Spread

That day, Twitter^[2] user @isxxvii retweeted a parody video of a soccer player overreacting to a foul by rolling out of the stadium and into public. They commented on the video (shown below), "#NeymarChallenge?"

#NeymarChallenge?
Lmaoooo https://t.co/SvbkEroez5

— Irvin Due Sette (@isxxvii) June 28, 2018

On July 2nd, Twitter^[3] user @soycrystalmeza tweeted a video of a group of people at a gym dropping to the ground and rolling like Neymar. They captioned the post, "#NeymarChallenge 😂." The post (shown below, left) received more than 60 retweets and 200 likes.

#NeymarChallenge 😂 pic.twitter.com/Jikwqg4hGf

— Crystal Meza (@soycrystalmeza) July 2, 2018

Three days later, Twitter^[5] user @inakialvarez tweeted a video of a whole soccer field of players participating in the challenge. The post (shown below, right) received more than 10,000 retweets and 24,000 like in four days.

Me queda claro que uno #HagoDramaCuando uno se vuelve experto en el #NeymarStyle al practicar el #NeymarChallenge 💥🤣🔥😎 pic.twitter.com/kMUCMMi5Po

— Iñaki Alvarez (@inakialvarez) July 5, 2018

Additionally, people began tagging a video of a mouse playing dead as a cat attempts to eat it with the hashtag. Twitter^[4] user @shazeensamad shared the video with the #NeymarChallenge tag on July 6th. The post (shown below, right) received more than 950 retweets and 1,900 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References