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What religion is Vinícius Júnior?
Vinícius Júnior is a Brazilian professional footballer who is a Christian. Vinicius follows the Roman Catholic faith. He was raised in a Catholic family in São Gonçalo, Brazil. In a past interview with Marca, the Real Madrid star reportedly described himself as Catholic and said that “God is everything” to him.
Vinícius Júnior plays as a forward for Real Madrid and the Brazil national team. He came through Flamengo’s youth academy in Rio de Janeiro before Real Madrid signed him as a teenager in 2018. He has since won two UEFA Champions League titles and multiple La Liga titles and was named FIFA’s Best Men’s Player in 2024. Off the pitch, he has become one of football’s most prominent voices against racism, having been the target of repeated racist abuse throughout his time in Spain.
Salary & Contract
Real Madrid signed Vinícius Júnior from Flamengo in 2018 for a reported €45 million fee. His first contract paid a small salary of €3.2 million per year. Even though he helped the club win the Champions League in 2022, he was still one of the lowest-paid players on the team at the time.
The club rewarded him with a new deal in the summer of 2022, which was announced in October 2023 and ran until June 2027. This contract gave him a base salary of €20.8 million a year, plus extra bonuses and a €1 billion release clause. In 2024, clubs from Saudi Arabia offered him huge wages of up to €350 million a year, but Real Madrid refused to let him leave.
On August 6, 2026, Vinícius agreed to a brand-new six-year contract with Real Madrid to stay at the club until 2032. Reports show his new salary has jumped up to around €24 million net per season. This massive raise officially makes him one of the highest-paid players at the club.
Early life
Vinícius was born on 12 July 2000 in São Gonçalo, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, to parents Tatiana and José Paixão de Oliveira, known as Vinícius Sr. His father worked a series of manual jobs, including construction work and later as a cabling technician, to support the family and fund his son’s football training. The family lived in modest circumstances in the working-class neighborhood of Portão da Rosa in São Gonçalo.
Vinícius began playing football barefoot in the streets of his neighborhood from age six. His father enrolled him at a Flamengo-affiliated football school in the area in 2006, and he later spent time playing futsal before trying out for Flamengo’s youth football team in 2010, this time successfully after an earlier unsuccessful attempt with the club’s futsal side. As a child, he played as a left back and idolized Brazilian forward Robinho.
Club career
Vinícius progressed through Flamengo’s youth academy after joining in 2010 and quickly stood out for his technique, dribbling, and eye for goal. He made his professional debut for Flamengo’s first team in 2017 at age 16 and helped the club reach a continental final before his rapid rise attracted interest from clubs across Europe.
Real Madrid
Real Madrid completed the signing of Vinícius from Flamengo in 2018, when he was still 17, though he did not join the first team in Spain until he turned 18. His breakthrough season came in 2021-22 under manager Carlo Ancelotti, when he recorded 22 goals and 16 assists in 52 appearances across all competitions and scored the winning goal in that season’s Champions League final against Liverpool. He scored again in the 2024 Champions League final, a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund, helping Real Madrid win a second Champions League title during his time at the club.
As of mid-2026, he had made 375 competitive appearances for Real Madrid, scoring 128 goals, and had won two Champions League titles, three La Liga titles, and two FIFA Club World Cups. He was named to the FIFPRO World 11 in both 2023 and 2024 and was named FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player for 2024, having finished as runner-up for that year’s Ballon d’Or.
International career
Vinícius made his senior debut for the Brazil national team and scored his first international goal in 2022 during a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Chile. He was named in Brazil’s squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where he scored his first World Cup goal in a round-of-16 victory over South Korea before Brazil was eliminated by Croatia in the quarter-finals. He was also part of Brazil’s 2021 Copa America final loss to Argentina and scored a brace against Paraguay at the 2024 Copa America but was suspended for Brazil’s quarterfinal loss to Uruguay in that tournament.
At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, held across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Vinícius was Brazil’s top scorer with four goals. He netted the equalizer in a 1-1 opening group match draw against Morocco, scored again in a 5-1 win over Haiti, and added a brace in a 3-1 victory against Scotland before Brazil was eliminated 2-1 in the round of 16 by Norway following two goals from Erling Haaland.
Why Always Vinícius Júnior?
Vinícius has become one of the most prominent anti-racism campaigners in world football after being the target of more than 25 reported instances of racist abuse during his time in Spain. Following a widely covered incident at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium in May 2023, in which fans shouted racial slurs at him, Brazil’s government formally protested to the Spanish ambassador, and Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation. Courts in Spain have since convicted multiple individuals over racist abuse directed at him, including fans sentenced over an incident in which an effigy of Vinícius was hung from a bridge in Madrid.
In a September 2024 CNN interview, Vinícius called for Spain to be stripped of its role as co-host of the 2030 World Cup unless the country made progress addressing racism in its stadiums. In 2026, his charitable organization, Instituto Vini Jr, announced the creation of a free anti-racism legal office in Brazil to support victims of racially motivated crimes, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. In 2023, he received the Sócrates Award at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, recognizing his humanitarian work.
Chin harmonization
Vinícius Júnior underwent a “chin harmonization” surgery shortly after Brazil’s elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup. According to reports, the treatment was performed at a clinic in Goiânia, Brazil, by specialist dermatologist Dr. Alessandro Alarcão.