Mueez Ajao
– Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been named as the most influential football on Instagram, ahead of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
– Though his influence on the pitch may have decreased, with United boss Erik ten Hag not counting him among his regular starters, it has soared on social media. Ronaldo remains an iconic figure having become one of the world’s best players during his first spell at United and with Real Madrid.
– That has handed him a massive following on social media, which only grew after his fairytale return to Old Trafford. According to research from analysts Nielsen Gracenote (via BBC ), the Portugal captain’s following grew by 48 per cent over the past year.
Also Read: Ronaldo fires Man Utd to first Europa League victory
– The 37-year-old averages more than £3million in media value per post according to the analysis. The forward has 480 million followers on Instagram and regularly posts updates from matches and training on the platform, as well as advertising promotions.
– His giant following is 80 million more than that of his rival Lionel Messi. The Argentine superstar has seen his own following grow by 38 per cent over the past 12 months, but it is still well short of Ronaldo’s.
– It still places Messi second in Nielsen’s rankings, which looked at the players who are expected to feature in this winter’s World Cup. They evaluated total followers, follower growth, engagement rate and average brand value per post on Instagram to give a media value total.
– Messi’s following on Instagram earns him more than £2m in media value per each of his posts. There is only one other Premier League player in the top 10, Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante, with no English star making the cut.
– Paris Saint-Germain team-mates Neymar and Mbappe are third and fourth respectively, with the former having over 100 million more followers than the Frenchman. The duo earn nearly £1m per post, well behind Ronaldo.
– Real Madrid star Vinicius rounds out the top five with 23 million followers, a yearly increase of 90 per cent, and £600,000 in media value per post. His team-mate Karim Benzema is sixth and, while he has 35 million more followers than the Brazilian, he brings in £170,000 less than him in media value per post.
– Paulo Dybala and Kante are close behind the Los Blancos stars, with the latter having the highest engagement (11%) of those in the top 10. It is a list completed by Paul Pogba and Sergio Ramos, meaning PSG are the highest represented team.
Top 10 most influential footballers at the 2022 World Cup:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo: 480m followers | $3,585,218
2. Lionel Messi: 360m followers | $2,631,388
3. Neymar: 178m followers | $1,152,495
4. Kylian Mbappe: 72.5m followers | $1,173,157
5. Vinicius Junior: 23m followers | $685,120
6. Karim Benzema: 58m followers | $489,239
7. Paolo Dybala: 49m followers | $491.547
8. N’Golo Kante: 14m followers | $525,178
9. Paul Pogba: 55m followers | $407,542
10. Sergio Ramos: 53m followers | $368,639
– The study also considered the ‘top 10 breakthrough footballers on Instagram’ in which they identified the players that have seen the biggest growth in their platform.
– Gavi tops the 10 after seeing a rather incredible growth of more than 5000%. The Spaniard’s engagement rate also stands at an impressive 30% on his posts.
– Whilst Brazilian’s Raphinha and Anthony seized the remaining two spots on the podium after their high-profile summer switches to Barcelona and Manchester United.
View the top 10 breakout stars here:
1. Gavi: 6.2m followers | £377,305
2. Raphinha: 3m followers | $22,727
3. Anthony: 4.8m | $106,229
4. Pedri: 7.3m | $255,212
5. Rodrigo de Paul: 5m followers | $206,983
6. Rodrygo Goes: 7.5m followers | $119,726
7. Aurelien Tchouameni: 2.1m followers | $80,973
8. Achraf Hakimi: 10.1m followers | $133,187
9. Dusan Vlahovic: 1.7m followers | $118,691
10. Darwin Nunez: 2.1m followers | $14,527
– Many of the players in this top 10, like Nunez for example, have seen their status in world football skyrocket after securing a move to a major European club.
