Nike said it broke up with soccer superstar Neymar last year in connection with an alleged sexual assault by the Brazilian.

Neymar refused to investigate the allegations made by an employee of the US sporting goods company, Nike justified the termination of the equipment contract in August 2020 this Friday.

Two weeks later, the footballer from the French capital's Paris Saint-Germain club signed a long-term contract with Nike rival Puma. A spokeswoman for Neymar rejected the portrayal of Nike. The allegation, which goes back to 2016, is unfounded. The separation after 15 years had rather economic reasons.

The "Wall Street Journal" reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the employee immediately told friends and colleagues about the incident in a New York hotel.

Nike said the woman didn't report him to the company until 2018, initially under the seal of confidentiality.

In 2019, she showed interest in legal prosecution.

The woman was responsible for looking after the star and had brought the apparently drunk together with a colleague to his hotel room after a party in New York.

Puma does not comment

The company considers its allegations against Neymar to be "credible", but an independent investigation has remained unsuccessful, said Nike. Neymar's spokeswoman said it was very strange that the allegations were coming to light right now. Nike had not yet commented on the reasons for the premature end of the contract, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, would have continued for eight years. A Puma spokeswoman did not want to comment. When the contract was signed, CEO Björn Gulden - himself a former professional soccer player - declared that Neymar was one of the best players in the world and had "an unbelievably great influence on global soccer and youth culture". Puma has now launched its own line of products bearing the Brazilian name.

These are not the first relevant allegations against Neymar, who has been the most expensive player in the world since moving from Barcelona to Paris for a transfer fee of 222 million euros. In 2019, a Brazilian model accused him of rape in a Paris hotel. Neymar had called the affair amicable and accused the woman of blackmail. The Brazilian authorities dropped the case against the footballer for lack of evidence and charged the woman with defamation, extortion and fraudulent proceedings. She was acquitted of the blackmail allegation in 2020, the other offenses were dropped.