Neymar Jr. To Play on Pokerstars as "neymar-jr"

Published on May 8th, 2015 12:54 pm EST

Pokerstars continued to add to their impressive stable of signed talent earlier this week when they inked Barcelona/Brazil forward Neymar Junior to a brand ambassador deal.

According to Pokerstars, Neymar Junior will be attending live Pokerstars events and playing online (as "neymar-jr") as part of his deal. Neymar Junior is expected to make one of his first appearances this summer at the EPT12 Barcelona tournament series.

Neymar Junior joins names such as Rafael Nadal and Ronaldo as fellow brand ambassadors for Pokerstars.

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Neymar Jr., who is just 23 years of age, is regarded as being one of the very best football players in the world. Neymar made his professional debut with Brazilian club Santos FC back in 2009. In the spring of 2013, Barcelona and Santos FC announced a deal for Neymar that reportedly included a transfer fee of nearly 90 million Euros.

Since making his debut for Barcelona in 2013, Neymar Junior has scored 30 times in 56 appearances. In addition, Neymar has scored 43 times in 62 appearances while playing for Brazil's national team.

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Since acquiring Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker last summer, Amaya, Inc. has done away with a number of traditional sponsorship agreements in favor of deals with celebrities and people who can help penetrate certain niches. The likes of Gus Hansen, Viktor Blom and Jonathan Duhamel have been replaced by the likes of Neymar Jr., Ronaldo and Jason Somerville.

One of Pokerstars' stated goals right now is to reach the mainstream audience and deals such as the one with Neymar Jr. will certainly help them to do so.

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Filed Under: Online Poker Rooms