{"id":36683,"date":"2022-04-08T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T15:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/"},"modified":"2022-04-08T15:25:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T15:25:00","slug":"soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brazilian soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos J&uacute;nior is paid hundreds of thousands of euros every month if he avoids statements of &ldquo;religious propaganda that could damage the image and unity&rdquo; of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club. Neymar, popularly known by his first name, is currently one of the highest-paid soccer players in the world and has been quite outspoken about his faith. He once told reporters, &ldquo;Life only makes sense when our highest ideal is to serve Christ.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>His current contract, however, includes a clause that pays him more than &euro;540,000 (roughly $630,000) per month to avoid declarations of faith.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3686,4401,4488,4731,4798,4974,5066,5139,5283,5284],"tax_ctp_topics":[384,388,392,401,403],"class_list":["post-36683","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-controversy","tax_ctp_tags-love-of-money","tax_ctp_tags-money","tax_ctp_tags-prosperity","tax_ctp_tags-religion","tax_ctp_tags-silence","tax_ctp_tags-sports","tax_ctp_tags-testimony","tax_ctp_tags-witness","tax_ctp_tags-witnessing"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brazilian soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos J&uacute;nior is paid hundreds of thousands of euros every month if he avoids statements of &ldquo;religious propaganda that could damage the image and unity&rdquo; of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club. Neymar, popularly known by his first name, is currently one of the highest-paid soccer players in the world Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/\",\"name\":\"Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-08T15:25:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T15:25:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/soccer-star-paid-not-to-stir-controversy-over-faith\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Soccer Star Paid Not to Stir Controversy Over Faith - CT Pastors","og_description":"Brazilian soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos J&uacute;nior is paid hundreds of thousands of euros every month if he avoids statements of &ldquo;religious propaganda that could damage the image and unity&rdquo; of the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club. 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