Cristiano Ronaldo named most POWERFUL player on Instagram at the World Cup, with 481m followers

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the most powerful footballer on Instagram to be featured at this year’s World Cup.

The Manchester United forward has 481 million followers on the social media platform – more than any other player to star in Qatar.

His individual posts are also worth the most to brands, with each post valued at a whopping £3.1 million.

The analysis was performed by statistics company Nielsen Sportswho assessed the total number of players’ followers, the growth in the number of followers over the past year, the engagement rate and the average brand value per post on Instagram.

Ronaldo’s number of followers has increased by almost 47% in the past year and he has a 2.25% engagement on posts.

The Portuguese superstar is above his longtime rival Lionel Messi, who has 360 million followers and an individual post value of £2.3 million.

Argentina’s Paris Saint-Germain teammates Neymar (178 million followers) and Kylian Mbappe (72.5 million) are in third and fourth place respectively, with both their individual posts worth just over £1 million.

The Portuguese attacker has 481 million followers on the social media platform

Lionel Messi is second on the list, ahead of PSG teammates Neymar and Kylian Mbappé

The Argentine superstar has 360 million followers and an individual post value of £2.3 million

In the top 10, Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior – who scored the winning goal in last season’s Champions League final – has had the biggest follower growth at 89.69%, while France’s N’Golo Kante has the highest engagement rate. has of 11.18%.

Chelsea midfielder Kante is actually the only Premier League player to make the top 10. He is in eighth position, just ahead of French team-mate Paul Pogba, who has more followers but lower growth, engagement and value per after.

Pogba, whose individual posts are worth £356,000 for brands, faces a race against time to be fit for Qatar after it was confirmed he will return from a knee injury just 10 days before the start of the tournament.

Spanish midfielder Gavi has been named as the biggest breakthrough player to appear at the World Cup. The 18-year-old has 6.2 million Instagram followers, a 5165% increase over the past year.

Spanish starlet Gavi has been named as the biggest breakthrough player to appear in Qatar

Summer moves to Barcelona and Manchester United have put Brazilian duo Raphinha and Antony second and third respectively on the list of breakthrough players.

The most popular team account is that of reigning world champion France, who has 11.7 million followers. In the Les Bleus squad, Mbappe, Karim Benzema, Kante and Pogba are all in the top 10 players.

England’s 8.5 million followers are in fourth place, behind Brazil (11.5 million) and Portugal (10.4 million).

Ronaldo’s appeal is emphasized by the fact that 86% of Portuguese fans are from outside the country – the largest percentage in the top 10. England are in second place, with 79% of their supporters from elsewhere.

The most popular team is reigning world champion France, who has 11.7 million followers

Jadon Sancho is not guaranteed to be in the English squad, but remains influential online

In the roster of the Three Lions, Jadon Sancho has been recognized as the most influential player on Instagram. The Manchester United winger has 8.9 million followers, up 21% over the past year, and can earn brands £246,000 per post.

However, Sancho will face a battle to be chosen by Gareth Southgate this winter. The 22-year-old has played just 73 minutes in an England shirt since he missed his penalty in the Euro 2020 final and is not in the squad for this month’s Nations League games against Italy and Germany.

England’s breakthrough player according to Gracenote is Jack Grealish, who now has 5.3 million followers. The number of followers of understudy goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has also risen in the past year, rising 920%.