Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo Crowned World Cup King of Social Influence as Thomas Partey leads the way for Ghana

In the Ghana squad at th Qatar World Cup 2022, Thomas Partey is the most followed player with 2.80 million followers, just in front of compatriots Andre Ayew (1.07 million) and Inaki Williams (1.05 million). The combined 26-man Ghana squad has (7.62 million) followers. The Ghana national football association has an audience of 1.13 million. The top ten most followed players in the Ghana squad are detailed below:

Ghana Top Ten Players by Social Media Audience

Cristiano Ronaldo has celebrated his first World Cup victory before the first ball has been kicked in Qatar after being named the competition’s most influential superstar on social media with 747.1 million followers.

Portugal and Manchester United’s Ronaldo has been confirmed as the most followed player at the World Cup across the media of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, recording an amazing 747.1 million followers across the platforms. Making up the top three are global superstars, Argentina Captain Lionel Messi (476 million) and Brazil start Neymar Jr (337.5 million), giving the three players a combined social media reach of well more than one billion globally.

To put this into perspective, Ronaldo’s following is more than 4.5 times larger than the combined following of the England squad (164 million). Bigger than the population of all the countries he has played in put together, England (55.9 million), Italy (59 million), Spain (47.3 million) and Portugal (10.1 million): total: 172.3 million.

You would have to fill England’s Wembley Stadium’s 90,000 capacity over 8,000 times to reach close to the number of people who follow Ronaldo on social media. Or Qatar’s 80,000 capacity World Cup Final Stadium the Lusail Stadium, over 9,000 times. Or his current home, Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium’s capacity 74,310, over 10,000 times. Or Sporting Clube de Portugal ’s Estádio José Alvalade (50,095) over 14,000 times.

His social media following amounts to more than the entire population of Europe (446.8 million).

Ronaldo’s total audience helps make Portugal the most followed squad at the 2022 World Cup with a total of 826 million followed in second place by Brazil’s squad of 678 million and Argentina’s 619 million.

Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Kylian Mbappe, Luis Suarez, Paulo Dybala, Antoine Griezmann, and Robert Lewandowski make the rest of the Top 10 Players. The sum of the total followers of the Top 10 players, 2.15 billion, is greater than the sum of the total followers for the rest of the players at the 2022 Qatar World Cup combined (1.76 billion). The table below shows the total audience for the Top 10 Players:

This research was conducted by the public relations, digital and football agency PMPR Excellence to analyse the global social media influence at the World Cup. Players from all 32 finalists, 831 players, have been studied and the PMPR Football Social Influencer Tables mapping player, squad and national association reach can be found at: www.prexcellence.com/football-social-influencer-tables

PMPR Social Media Editor & PMPR Excellence Marketing Director Barry Thomson comments:

“The collective media power, projection and influence of the World Cup’s 831 footballers is over 3.9 Billion almost half of the entire population of the world (8 Billion). Ronaldo is undoubtedly the social media King of Kings of global social media influence.”

Publisher of the PMPR Social Media Influence Tables and Director of PMPR Excellence Peter McLean comments:

“Thomas Partey’s popularity and influence is significant. As well as being a world cup level footballer, he is also a large media company. He is able to reach 2.8 million people at the touch of his phone or tablet. His reach represents more than the entire population of Ghana’s Capital: Accra (2.6 million).

“Cristiano Ronaldo, is simply, the most popular human being on the planet.

Ronaldo, at the touch of his phone or tablet, reaches 747 million followers. It is astonishing and highlights the global reach and influence of individual football personalities. To put this into perspective, Ronaldo’s following is more than the entire population of Europe (446.8M).

To put this into perspective, Ronaldo’s following is more than 4.5 times larger than the combined following of the England squad (164 million). Bigger than the population of all the countries he has played in put together, England (55.9 million), Italy (59 million), Spain (47.3 million) and Portugal (10.1 million): total: 172.3 million.

You would have to fill England’s Wembley Stadium’s 90,000 capacity over 8,000 times to reach close to the number of people who follow Ronaldo on social media. Or Qatar’s 80,000 capacity World Cup Final Stadium the Lusail Stadium, over 9,000 times. Or his current home, Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium’s capacity 74.310, over 10,000 times. Or Sporting Clube de Portugal ’s Estádio José Alvalade (50,095) over 14,000 times.

Ronaldo’s total helps make Portugal the most followed squad at the 2022 World Cup with a total of 826M followed in second place by Brazil’s squad of 678M and third place Argentina’s 619M.

Ronaldo’s following is more than the entire population of Europe (446.8M).

It is clear players like Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and Morata are now among the largest media companies in the world. And, have the social influence and commercial value that accompanies that power.

‘As someone once said: ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.’

‘I would like to thank, for their incredible, patient and diligent work, the PMPR team of: Editor Barry Thomson and Global Editors and Analysts Conner McCoy, Ross MacIver, Deborah Pantoja and Dave Scott. And global PMPR publishing team: Pedram Ardalani, Daniel Avellaneda, Rafael Bullara, Osterne Feitosa and Norsat Mirzai.”

To read the full social media analysis of World Cup 2022 view the Global Summary or use the links below:

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For more information please contact:

In English Barry Thomson barry@prexcellence.com +44-771-700-6408

In English & Portuguese Peter McLean peter@prexcellence.com +44-774-774-037-1909

Notes to editors:

Disclaimer. PMPR has sought to make every reasonable effort to ensure that the data and analysis is correct. All data was collected on 1st-15th November 2022 and provides a snapshot at that time. Please send any corrections or updates to digital@prexcellence.com. It should be noted that people can of course follow multiple players and clubs across multiple channels, so this analysis measures total audience rather than unique followers. Some players do not have any social media accounts or have chosen not to have publicly visible profiles. Naturally reach is only one metric of influence.

 The Football Social Influencer Tables concept remain the exclusive property of PMPR Excellence Ltd. If publishing extracts please credit the PMPR Football Social Influencer Tables and mention our website www.prexcellence.com/football-social-influencer-tables

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