Neymar will face a fraud trial in October linked to alleged financial irregularities in his transfer to Barcelona from Santos nine years ago.
The Brazil star, now of Paris Saint-Germain, and executives from both former clubs will be tried in a Catalan court from October 17 to 31 - less than a month before he will attempt to help Brazil to a sixth World Cup.
All defendants deny any wrongdoing but they failed to have the case thrown out with appeals to Spain’s high court.
The case surrounds allegations made by an investment group called DIS, which used to own a portion of the forward’s transfer rights. DIS argues that it did not receive the money it was entitled to when Neymar moved to Camp Nou from Santos in 2013.
The group said that it was owed 40% of the transfer fee, initially understood to be £48.6m but later claimed to have been about £71m, and that led to prosecutors investigating the allegations.
Neymar will be slated to give evidence during the trial alongside his parents, the former Santos head coach Odilio Rodrigues and Barca’s top execs at the time, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu.
The transfer was first investigated by tax authorities in Madrid in January 2014, leading to the resignation of Rosell amid a complaint from a club member. Barca then said that Neymar's parents got £34m of the £48.6m with the remainder going to Santos.
But further investigations were carried out to ascertain whether the club had hidden a portion of the fee for the purpose of tax avoidance and in January 2016 the club were ordered to pay £4.4m to the Spanish authorities.
“The agreement involves the recognition by the club of an error in tax planning for the signing of the player, for the fiscal years 2011 and 2013, when they did not correctly withhold payments resulting from his incorporation,” the club said in 2016.
But that did not solve DIS’s complaints with prosecutors asking that Neymar be charged with two counts of fraud and corruption six years ago. The case has dragged on since with confirmation of a trial date finally arriving.
In the past Neymar has said he was “sick and tired” of accusations around misappropriation and has consistently protested his innocence.
