I’d just like to say to anyone that’s upset about people seemingly putting down Neymar for Marta, that this all originated from a journalist that asked her if she was ‘the Neymar of women’s football’ which is a ridiculous and disrespectful thing to say to a person who’s won everything there is to be won in her sport. 

But unfortunately, a lot of people, especially males, still think this way about female footballers and this is why the backlash to this has been so important, because men like that must be shown that we value female footballers for their achievements. Nobody is putting down Neymar, or at least I hope they aren’t, but they are calling attention to a gross double standard.

Marta’s yearly salary is 360 000 EUR. Neymar’s is 25 million EUR. Yet another facet where they’re incomparable.

Did you know that in 2012, Santos shut down their women’s team.? Not because their results were bad. Not because they were unsuccessful. Reportedly, because the club needed finances to pay Neymar’s very high salary. 

Marta played for Santos for a while. They said they couldn’t afford her. 

So, it’s fine if you feel like you need to defend Neymar or that you feel it’s wrong to put him down to defend Marta. I’m just hoping that you felt the same outrage when she and her fellow female footballers are systematically degraded and put down, when they face sexism and unequal pay and bad playing conditions, and that you’ll extend your voice to their struggles also. I’m certain that if we all feel strongly about this issue and voice our displeasure, we can really make a difference. I’m think they need our defense more than Neymar does, but that’s just my opinion.