Sardar Azmoun is named Iran’s most popular player at Qatar World Cup 2022 - as Ronaldo Crowned World Cup Influencer King

In the Iranian squad for the Qatar World Cup 2022, Sardar Azmoun of Bayern Leverkusen is the most followed player with 5.03 million followers, ahead of compatriots Porto’s Mehdi Taremi (4.71 million) and Persepolis’ Alireza Beyranvand (4.10 million). The combined 26-man Iranian squad has 36.83 million followers. The Iran Football national association has a following of 721,000. The top ten most followed players in the squad are detailed below.

Iran 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.

The Portuguese forward has been confirmed as the most followed player at the World Cup across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, recording an amazing 747.1 million followers across the platforms. He pips Argentina captain Lionel Messi (476 million) and Brazil start Neymar Jr (337.5 million) to the title, giving the three players a combined social media reach of well in excess of one billion globally.

This research was conducted by the public relations, digital and football agency PMPR Excellence to analyse social media influence at the World Cup. Players from all 32 finalists 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:

‘Players like Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and Azmoun as well as being World Cup stars, are also significant media companies.
Sardar Azmoun’s popularity and influence is significant. As well as being a world cup level footballer, he is also the one of the biggest media companies in Iran. He is able to reach over 5M people at the touch of his phone or tablet. The equivalent to reaching 57% of the population of Iran’s capital city: Tehran (8.7M).
Cristiano Ronaldo, is simply, the most popular human being on the planet.
Ronaldo’s figure of 747 million followers 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).
‘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 +44-774-037-1909

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

About PMPR: Established in the year 2000, PMPR operates locally, nationally and globally, successfully carrying out communication and negotiation in every continent and over 200 countries, helping to take messages and sports people successfully around the planet.PMPR has worked with many of the world’s biggest business, entertainment, broadcasting and sports personalities: from world football icons Pelé, Ronaldinho and Kaká, global music superstars such as Rod Stewart, film and television personalities such as Emmy Award winning actress Archie Panjabi and has conducted the PR Management for major Music events involving artists such as Beyoncé and Coldplay.The PMPR Marketing and Public Relations Division has experience of representing and being the choice of the biggest media companies in the world, including Disney’s ESPN - the world’s largest sports broadcaster. PMPR specialises in sponsorship activation and creating and delivering persuasive communications that help shape opinion and behaviour locally, nationally and around the world.The PMPR Global Football Division has represented International football players and clubs in the English Premier League and across the world and has negotiated and achieved for its clients record breaking contracts at English Premier League clubs. PMPR has direct access to key decision makers across the Big 5 European Leagues (EPL - England, Bundesliga - Germany, La Liga - Spain, Ligue 1 - France and Serie A - Italy), Brazil, China and around the world.