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Cristiano Ronaldo named most powerful player on Instagram at 2022 World Cup

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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.

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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%.

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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.

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Top 10 most influential footballers on Instagram at 2022 World Cup
PlayerCountryClubHandleFollowers (m)Value per post
Cristiano RonaldoPortugalMan Utdcristiano480$3,585,218
Lionel MessiArgentinaPSGleomessi360$2,631,388
NeymarBrazilPSGneymarjr178$1,152,495
Kylian MbappeFrancePSGk.mbappe72.5$1,173,157
Vinicius JuniorBrazilReal Madridvinijr23$685,120
Karim BenzemaFranceReal Madridkarimbenzema58$489,239
Paulo DybalaArgentinaRomapaulodybala49$491,547
N’Golo KanteFranceChelseanglkante14$525,178
Paul PogbaFranceJuventuspaulpogba55$407,542
Sergio RamosSpainPSGsergioramos53$368,639

Top 10 breakthrough footballers on Instagram
PlayerCountryClubHandleFollowers (m)Value per post
GaviSpainBarcelonapablogavi6.2$377,305
RaphinhaBrazilBarcelonaraphinha3$22,727
AntonyBrazilMan Utdantony004.8$106,229
PedriSpainBarcelonapedri7.3$255,212
Rodrigo de PaulArgentinaAtletico Madridrodridepaul5$206,983
RodrygoBrazilReal Madridrodrygogoes7.5$119,726
Aurelien TchouameniFranceReal Madridaurelientchm172.1$80,973
Achraf HakimiMoroccoPSGachrafhakimi10.1$133,187
Dusan VlahovicSerbiaJuventusvlahovicdusan1.7$118,691
Darwin NunezUruguayLiverpooldarwin_n92.1$14,527
Top 10 most popular men’s national teams on Instagram
CountryHandleFollowers (m)% fans outside country
Franceequipedefrance11.764.85
Brazilcbf_futebol11.535.73
Portugalportugal10.486.41
Englandengland8.579.47
Argentinaafaseleccion7.354.75
Mexicomiseleccionmx5.947.46
Germanydfb_team4.972.84
Spainsefutbol475.71
Moroccoequipedumaroc1.533.66
Netherlandsonsoranje1.372.67

-BBC

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Former England captain, David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman awarded knighthoods

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David Beckham, businessman and retired football player, waits to meet Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla, at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, Britain, May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool/File Photo

Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.

Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.

He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.

His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.

Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.

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He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.

Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.

Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.

More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.

King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14

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-Reuters

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Diego Maradona trial judge stands down amid scandal

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Italy Court Clears Maradona Of Tax Evasion Years After His Death -

One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.

The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.

-Reuters

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The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in 2025 revealed

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For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.

But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.

Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.

On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.

And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.

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The League of Wealthy Sportsmen

The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.

And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.

Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.

This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.

 In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.

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For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.

But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.

Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.

On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.

And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.

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The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.

And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.

Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.

This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.

 In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.

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World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2025

VIEW THE FULL LIST

 Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H

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