The essentials on Neymar
Neymar (born 5 February 1992, Brazil) is the all-time top scorer of the Seleção and Olympic champion at Rio 2016 on a decisive penalty. His transfer to PSG in 2017 (222 million euros) remains the most expensive in football history. His wax statue awaits you at Wax of Legends, Colmar.
The ball sits on the penalty spot. To your right, a yellow jersey, number 10 on the back, hair pulled up: Neymar. A life-size wax statue, frozen in his striker's stance, not an image on a screen. You look up, and there he is, at eye level. And this time, you're the one taking the shot.
Welcome to Wax of Legends, in Colmar. The museum brings together a gallery of wax statues where sports stars stand alongside icons of music, cinema and history. Among them, an Olympic champion, long the most expensive player in football history. Here is Neymar: the man, his statue, and what you can do at his side.
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior was born on 5 February 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. A winger as much as a playmaker, he made his name with a mesmerising dribble and close ball control. The public simply calls him Neymar, or Neymar Jr, the "Jr" distinguishing the son from the father, himself a former footballer.
Trained at Santos FC, the club of Pelé, he broke through very young in Brazil before moving to Europe. Barcelona, then Paris Saint-Germain, then Saudi Arabia: his career has been written across three continents, marked by titles and records. In the Brazil jersey, he became the all-time top scorer of the Seleção, overtaking Pelé himself.
What sets Neymar apart starts with the way he plays. The step-over, the nutmeg, the curled free kick, the smile as he takes on a defender: he belongs to that lineage of Brazilian players for whom football remains, above all, a game. His ever-changing hairstyles, his tattoos and his social-media presence have made him a name followed far beyond the pitch. A younger audience may never have seen him play live, yet they know his every move.
Who is Neymar Jr?
A Brazilian forward born on 5 February 1992. Trained at Santos, he has played for FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and in Saudi Arabia. Olympic champion with Brazil at the Rio Games in 2016 and all-time top scorer of his national team.
If one moment sums up Neymar's international career, it is this one. Summer 2016, Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on home soil. Brazil, the country of football, had never won Olympic football gold, a title still missing from its record.
In the final, Brazil faced Germany, who had knocked them out two years earlier at the World Cup. Neymar opened the scoring from a free kick. The score was level at the end of regulation time and extra time: everything came down to the penalty shootout. It was him, captain and number 10, who stepped up for the final attempt. He converted. Brazil claimed its first Olympic football title.
That is why, when you search "Neymar Olympics", you land on this image: a player in tears, the green and yellow flag over his shoulders, a gold medal around his neck. It is this version of Neymar that you find again, still but unmistakable, in the sports gallery at Wax of Legends.
The Rio gold, in short
At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Neymar gave Brazil its first Olympic gold medal in football. Captain of the national team, he was the one who scored the decisive penalty in the final against Germany.
At Santos, between 2009 and 2013, he came into his own and won the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier club competition. FC Barcelona then drew him to Europe. There, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, he formed the attacking trio nicknamed "MSN". Together, they won the Champions League in 2015.
In 2017, Paris Saint-Germain signed him for 222 million euros: the most expensive transfer in football history, a record still unbeaten. In Paris, Neymar piled up domestic titles and reached the Champions League final in 2020. He then moved to Saudi Arabia before, in 2025, returning to Santos, the club where it all began.
His journey has had its setbacks too. In 2014, as Brazil hosted the World Cup at home, Neymar suffered a serious back injury in the quarter-final and missed the end of the tournament. Two years later, the Olympic gold in Rio turned that disappointment on its head, this time in front of his home crowd. He is father to a boy, Davi Lucca.
| Year | Career milestone |
|---|---|
| 2009–2013 | Breakthrough at Santos, Copa Libertadores title |
| 2013 | Transfer to FC Barcelona, "MSN" trio with Messi and Suárez |
| 2014 | Back injury in the World Cup quarter-final, at home |
| 2015 | Champions League won with FC Barcelona |
| 2016 | Olympic gold in Rio, decisive penalty in the final |
| 2017 | Record transfer to PSG: 222 million euros |
| 2020 | Champions League final with PSG |
| 2025 | Return to Santos, the club where he started |
Key figures
Born in 1992. 222 million euros: the record transfer to PSG in 2017. Olympic gold medal in 2016. All-time top scorer of the Brazilian national team, ahead of Pelé. A club record built across three continents.
Remember the last kick of the Rio final, the one Neymar converted to give Brazil the gold. At the museum, you can replay it: the penalty shootout, one of the fifteen interactive experiences along the route, puts the ball at your feet in turn.
A quick word, or you'll be looking in the wrong place: Neymar is not waiting in goal. The forward has never kept goal in his life. He wears the jersey of your own side, a teammate for the length of a shot. You are the one who takes the strike; he clears the path for you, exactly as he did for all of Brazil at the Maracanã. The only question: will your nerves hold when a title comes down to a single kick?
His statue takes its place in the sports gallery. A few strides away, Rafael Nadal has frozen his forehand, flanked by two other greats of the racket, Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova: you slip from the turf of the Maracanã to clay without leaving the room.
That is the whole spirit of Wax of Legends: you don't watch the statues from afar, you step into the scene. For the length of a shot, you stop being a spectator, you are the legend.
Once the penalty is behind you, the rest of the gallery shifts into an entirely different register: from one room to the next, the scene changes completely.
You can sit in on a lesson given by Albert Einstein in person, chalk in hand and blackboard behind him, you the student paying attention for once. A little further on, a press-photo scene freezes Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Donald Trump standing in an airport hall. Elsewhere, you'll mime the cover of a scandal magazine between Louis de Funès and Jean-Paul Belmondo, flashes trained on your exit. And because this is Colmar, one room pays tribute to Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, Colmar's own, the man who designed the Statue of Liberty, a chance to slip your own face into his work.
The route also makes room for the ten legends of Alsace. In a few steps, the visit slides from the giants of the wider world to the folklore of the region.
Visit information
Allow 1 to 1.5 hours to explore the 60 statues, 30 listening points and 15 interactive experiences. Wax of Legends is open every day from 10am to 6pm, public holidays included, with last entries at 5pm and an audioguide included in 6 languages.
Three museums share the same address, 12 place de la Cathédrale in Colmar, right in the historic, pedestrianised centre. You move from one to the next on the spot, without retracing your steps.
The Rio penalty still in mind, switch registers without leaving the premises: Choco-Story, the chocolate museum, unfolds a mouth-watering route, manufacturing secrets and tastings to finish. Fancy something from the local terroir? Vino-Storia introduces the wines of Alsace and closes its visit with a tasting of three wines. Children follow the same route thanks to juices chosen to recreate the aromas of the wines: the whole family shares the same moment.
As for tickets, nothing says you have to do it all in one day. A duo pass (−20%) combines two of the museums, a trio pass (−33%) all three: one museum free. Both remain valid for 7 days from the first visit and can be booked online.
Good to know
→ Book your tickets online: Wax of Legends tickets
→ Combine two museums with the duo pass: Wax + Vino duo pass or Wax + Choco duo pass
→ All three at once with the trio pass at −33%
Yes. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Neymar won the gold medal with Brazil, the country's first ever in the football tournament. Captain of the team, he scored the decisive penalty in the final against Germany. It is one of the peaks of his international career, and one of the great moments that explain his place in the museum.
Neymar was born on 5 February 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil. He is therefore over thirty and already ranks among the most decorated players of his generation.
After Santos, FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and a spell in Saudi Arabia, Neymar returned to Santos in 2025, the Brazilian club where he made his professional debut.
Yes. In the Seleção jersey, Neymar surpassed Pelé's goal tally, becoming the all-time top scorer of the Brazilian national team. A record that carries weight in a country where football is a national affair.
His wax statue awaits you at Wax of Legends, in Colmar, in the sports gallery, where he stands alongside footballers Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi and, on the tennis side, Rafael Nadal. You can even replay the Rio penalty there, with the Brazilian number 10 as your teammate.
Of course. The statue is freely accessible along the route: you pose at his side and replay the penalty scene with him. Selfie points are set up throughout the museum, too, to help you get the best shots.
Neymar is just one name among the sixty statues on the route, but he is one of the names that pull football fans in, with a very real wish to step onto the same pitch as an Olympic champion. In Colmar, that pitch fits inside a single room, and the penalty, this time, is yours to take.
Information verified by the Wax of Legends team (July 2026).
Cover photo : © Serge NIED — Wax of Legends
