CELEBRITY
Cristiano Ronaldo named most powerful player on Instagram at 2022 World Cup
Cristiano Ronaldo leads Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as the most influential footballer on Instagram due to play at the 2022 World Cup.
Portugal forward Ronaldo had a 48% increase in followers in the past year.
He averages more than $3.5m in media value per post, according to analysts Nielsen Gracenote.
Manchester United team-mate Jadon Sancho is the most influential English player, while Gavi is the breakthrough star with a 5,165% growth in followers.
Rankings are based on Nielsen’s influencer measurement tool, which evaluates total followers, follower growth, engagement rate and average brand value per post on Instagram to give a media value total.
It ranked the players who are expected to feature at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Ronaldo has 480 million followers on Instagram, while Argentina’s Messi is followed by 360 million people – a 38% growth in the past 12 months – and produces $2.6m of media value per post.
The Paris St-Germain attacking trio of Messi, Neymar and Mbappe rank second, third and fourth respectively behind Ronaldo, each averaging more than $1m per post.
Of the top 10, Brazil’s Vinicius Junior had the biggest growth in following of any player with a 90% increase, having scored the winner in the Champions League final for Real Madrid against Liverpool.
France’s N’Golo Kante ranks eighth in the list and has the highest engagement rate of any player in the top 10 with his posts, at 11%.
The next big social media star looks to be Spain’s Gavi, whose following has shot up by more than 5000% to 6.2 million. His posts have an engagement rate of nearly 30%.
Brazil’s Raphinha and Antony are second and third in the breakthrough footballer standings with huge growth in their follower numbers after summer moves to Barcelona and Manchester United respectively.
Meanwhile, France are likely to be the most influential team on social media at the 2022 World Cup, with 11.7 million followers on their official page.
This edges out Brazil and Portugal, who have 11.3 million and 10.3 million respectively. Notably, 86% of Portugal’s followers live outside the European country.
England are fourth with 8.5m followers. Of their players, winger Sancho is the most influential – he has 8.9 million followers, an increase in 21% over the past year, while he has a healthy 8% engagement rate on posts.
Several young English players have had notable breakthroughs on social media, including Jack Grealish who now has more than five million followers, and Aaron Ramsdale, whose following has exploded by a remarkable 920% over the past 12 months after joining Arsenal.
Top 10 most influential footballers on Instagram at 2022 World Cup Player Country Club Handle Followers (m) Value per post Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Man Utd cristiano 480 $3,585,218 Lionel Messi Argentina PSG leomessi 360 $2,631,388 Neymar Brazil PSG neymarjr 178 $1,152,495 Kylian Mbappe France PSG k.mbappe 72.5 $1,173,157 Vinicius Junior Brazil Real Madrid vinijr 23 $685,120 Karim Benzema France Real Madrid karimbenzema 58 $489,239 Paulo Dybala Argentina Roma paulodybala 49 $491,547 N’Golo Kante France Chelsea nglkante 14 $525,178 Paul Pogba France Juventus paulpogba 55 $407,542 Sergio Ramos Spain PSG sergioramos 53 $368,639
Top 10 breakthrough footballers on Instagram Player Country Club Handle Followers (m) Value per post Gavi Spain Barcelona pablogavi 6.2 $377,305 Raphinha Brazil Barcelona raphinha 3 $22,727 Antony Brazil Man Utd antony00 4.8 $106,229 Pedri Spain Barcelona pedri 7.3 $255,212 Rodrigo de Paul Argentina Atletico Madrid rodridepaul 5 $206,983 Rodrygo Brazil Real Madrid rodrygogoes 7.5 $119,726 Aurelien Tchouameni France Real Madrid aurelientchm17 2.1 $80,973 Achraf Hakimi Morocco PSG achrafhakimi 10.1 $133,187 Dusan Vlahovic Serbia Juventus vlahovicdusan 1.7 $118,691 Darwin Nunez Uruguay Liverpool darwin_n9 2.1 $14,527 Top 10 most popular men’s national teams on Instagram Country Handle Followers (m) % fans outside country France equipedefrance 11.7 64.85 Brazil cbf_futebol 11.5 35.73 Portugal portugal 10.4 86.41 England england 8.5 79.47 Argentina afaseleccion 7.3 54.75 Mexico miseleccionmx 5.9 47.46 Germany dfb_team 4.9 72.84 Spain sefutbol 4 75.71 Morocco equipedumaroc 1.5 33.66 Netherlands onsoranje 1.3 72.67
-BBC
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo crossed one billion followers across his social media accounts, aided by his newly-launched YouTube channel that has attracted more than 60 million subscribers in just over three weeks.
Ronaldo, who scored his 900th career goal last week to help Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 in the Nations League, is the first human being to reach a billion followers on social media, global media reports said.
“We’ve made history, one billion followers! This is more than just a number, it’s a testament to our shared passion, drive, and love for the game and beyond,” Ronaldo posted on X.
“You’ve been with me every step of the way, through all the highs and the lows. This journey is our journey… thank you for believing in me, for your support, and for being part of my life.”
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player reached the milestone with over 639 million followers on Instagram, 170 million on Facebook and 113 million on X.
The 39-year-old topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid athletes this year, with off-field earnings of $60 million, boosted by his large social media following.
Ronaldo’s club Al-Nassr will host Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League on Friday.
-Reuters
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo launched his YouTube channel on Wednesday and hundreds of thousands of subscribers signed up within a couple of hours.
The 39-year-old five-times Ballon D’Or winner plays for Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.
“The wait is over. My @YouTube channel is finally here! SIUUUbscribe and join me on this new journey,” Ronaldo posted on his social media accounts.
A couple of hours after posting his first video, 1.69M subscribers had joined he channel.
Ronaldo has 112.5 million followers on the X platform, 170 million on Facebook and 636 million on Instagram.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United player is preparing for his team’s Saudi Pro League opener against Al-Raed on Thursday.
-Reuters
Inter Miami will be the last club Argentina captain Lionel Messi plays for, the 36-year-old forward said on Wednesday, adding he feels “a little bit scared” at the thought of the day he decides to retire.
Messi, a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022, has a contract with the Major League Soccer side until 2025 following his arrival last summer after a spell with French champions Paris St Germain.
“Inter Miami will be my last club. I love playing football. I enjoy everything even more because I am aware that there is less and less left,” Messi told ESPN.
“I’m not ready to leave football. I’ve done this all my life, I love playing football, I enjoy training, the day-to-day, the matches… And yes, there’s always a little bit of fear that it’s all over.”
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi is preparing with his national team to defend their Copa America title, with the tournament kicking off on June 20 in the United States.
Argentina will take on Canada in the opening match before facing Group A rivals Chile on June 25 and Peru four days later.
-Reuters
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