Nike ends Neymar's sponsorship over a sexual assault case

Nike, the American sports equipment giant, confirmed to (AFP) that it had ended its partnership with the French star of Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazilian soccer team Neymar after he refused to cooperate in an internal investigation of the trademark after an employee accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2016. Nike said In a statement issued this morning, "Nike ended its partnership with the athlete because he refused to cooperate in the investigation of good faith in the credible allegations of wrongdoing alleged by an employee," confirming a news reported by the American "Wall Street Journal".

"The investigation was not conclusive. A set of facts that would allow us to judge the facts of the case have not emerged," she added. It would be inappropriate for Nike to file an indictment without being able to present the supporting facts. ” A spokeswoman for the player confirmed in a statement to the "Wall Street Journal" that "Neymar Jr will defend himself strongly against these baseless attacks in the event of any allegation, which has not happened so far." The spokeswoman explained that the two parties separated for commercial reasons, while they had been in talks since 2019.

"Very disturbed"

in the press release of the company, Nike explained that it is "very disturbed by the allegations of sexual assault that one of its employees revealed in 2018 against Neymar Jr.", without specifying their nature.

Based on testimonies and documents, the Wall Street Journal reported that this employee told her friends and colleagues that Neymar tried to force her to have oral sex in 2016, while she was in her New York City hotel room, where she worked in coordination and logistics for a promotional event.

Neymar's father protested in the daily "Fulia de Sao Paulo", saying, "How can such news appear?", Asserting that his son "does not even know this girl."

"This comes from Nike. It's very strange, they all leave Nike and accuse things like that. It happened to Cristiano Ronaldo, the basketball player who died, Kobe (Bryant), their reputation has been tarnished, just as Neymar is falsely accused now."

Nike said in its statement that it was ready to investigate in 2018 when its employee revealed these allegations for the first time, but "respected the initial desire of the employee to keep this matter confidential and to avoid opening an investigation."

Therefore, Nike did not share the information with the courts or any other third party until 2019, when the group appointed lawyers to conduct an investigation, after the employee wanted to pursue this case.

That year, Neymar was accused of rape by another woman in Brazil.

This accusation, which he vehemently rejected and eventually dropped, severely damaged his image.

At the time, Nike expressed its "deep concern", before reassuring the player of his support once the case was closed by the Brazilian police due to insufficient evidence.

Neymar, who was ranked last year by Forbes magazine as the seventh highest-paid celebrity in the world ($ 95.5 million, including sponsorship contracts), faced tax problems in Spain when he defended the colors of Barcelona (2013-2017).

All this did not prevent him, almost immediately after the termination of his contract with Nike, from dealing with Puma, as well as from extending his contract with the Parisian club last May until the end of the 2024-2025 season.

Neymar announced, at the time of the official announcement of the extension of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, who is crowned three-time champion of France and reached the final of the Champions League competition last year, that he "has grown as a person and as a person."

Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news