Hate it or love it, football remains the world’s most popular sport, with a fan base of at least half the world’s population. And when it comes to sporting events, they don’t come any bigger than the World Cup.
Footballers all over the world probably number in millions. However, only a select few will experience the level of exposure that representing their country in the World Cup brings with it. But even for these 736 “chosen ones”, there remains a class distinction, at least by social media standards. All World Cup players are equal, but some are more equal and influential than others. We decided to create a list of 10 of the most influential World Cup players on Facebook and Twitter.
In ranking the players, we considered not only their raw follower base, but also factored in Klout scores as a measure of how well followers engage with their pages. Of course, footballers with smaller followershhip are more likely to have higher Klout scores so, number of followers/fans still played an important role in the ranking.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Twitter: 26.6m followers
Facebook: 84.5m likes
Klout: 92
Lionel Messi (Argentina)
Twitter: None
Facebook: 57.9m likes
Klout: 78.2
Neymar Júnior (Brazil)
Twitter: 10.8 million followers
Facebook: 23.4 million likes
Klout: 86
Wayne Rooney (England)
Twitter: 8.81 million followers
Facebook: 20.8 million likes
Klout: 88
Andrés Iniesta (Spain)
Twitter: 8.69 million followers
Facebook: 20 million likes
Klout: 85.4
Mesut Özil (Germany)
Twitter: 5.84m followers
Facebook: 19.8m likes
Klout: 78.2
David Villa (Spain)
Twitter: 5.93m followers
Facebook: 14.2m likes
Klout: 78.2
Gerard Pique (Spain)
Twitter: 8.48 followers
Facebook: 12.3 million likes
Klout: 83.6
Cesc Fàbregas (Spain)
Twitter: 6.61 million followers
Facebook: 5.2 million likes
Klout: 78.8
Sergio Aguero
Twitter: 5.68m followers
Facebook: 5.6m likes
Klout: 79
Featured image source: Cristiano Ronaldo official Twitter
