Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have more followers on social media than the clubs they play for, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
The Portuguese forward has some 593 million followers on his personal accounts, with the Argentine having 375 million followers in total. Messi's total is down due to the fact he doesn't have a Twitter account.
The findings come from UEFA, who include social media on their yearly football benchmark report.
Ronaldo and Messi lead the way
To put into context how much following the two greatest footballers in modern football have, Manchester United have a total following of 169 million, which is way below Ronaldo.
PSG have fewer followers than United, with 133 million in total, less than half that of Messi.
As for the clubs leading the way, Real Madrid are currently the most followed club in world football, boasting 251.5 million followers in total.
Barcelona finished a close second to Real Madrid with 248 million followers, showing the clear gap between the two Spanish giants and Manchester United, as well as PSG.
Summer signings see social media soar
As well as being the most popular figures on social media, Ronaldo and Messi were subject to high-profile transfers in the summer of 2021.
Ronaldo returned to Manchester United from Juventus, whilst Messi shocked the world with his move from Barcelona to PSG.
Messi's move saw a 13 percent uptake in PSG social media followers from 110.5 million to 115.7 million on the day of his announcement.
This was slightly more than Ronaldo's three percent uptake in following which he had on Manchester United's social media followers from 161.1 million to 163.2 million when he was announced by the club.
Popular posts
Aside from having an impact on their club's social media, the announcement images used by the players on their own accounts sent the world into hysteria.
Ronaldo's announcement on his Instagram account totalled 19 million likes, usurped by Messi's 22 million likes on his Instagram account after signing for PSG.
The reaction by fans made their posts some of the most viral social media posts in football history, a credit to their popularity.
Real Madrid perform well
Real Madrid were again on top when it came to social media following, showing that their social media campaigns have generated success off the field.
With over 200 million followers on Facebook and Instagram, their Twitter account also leads the way with over 63 million followers.
Irphankhan
231
Let's help 1 M to reach 400 M for Ronaldo 👍
RogerCule
171
CRISTIANO: 1102 game played. LEO MESSI: 954 game played. CRISTIANO: 803 career goals. LEO MESSI: 758 career goals. CRISTIANO: 229 career assists LEO MESSI: 320 career assists CRISTIANO: Real Madrid's all-time topscorer. LEO MESSI: FC Barcelona's all-time topscorer. CRISTIANO: Portugal's all-time topscorer. LEO MESSI: Argentina's all-time topscorer. CRISTIANO: Champions League's all-time topscorer. LEO MESSI: Champions League's second all-time topscorer. CRISTIANO: La Liga's second all-time topscorer. LEO MESSI: La Liga's all-time topscorer. CRISTIANO: 5 Times Ballon D'Or winner. LEO MESSI: 7 Times Ballon D'Or winner. CRISTIANO: 4 Times Golden Boot winner. LEO MESSI: 6 Times Golden Boot winner. Both have the most appearances (15) on the FIFPro World XI. ⠀ Love one but don't hate the other and please let's Enjoy them whilst we can because we won't be able to see them on the pitch before long!
satyaballa
141
the one and only football GOAT ❤
LOWLOW1
105
ITS OFFICIAL:MESSI is KING Of FOOTBALL and CR7 is KING OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Podabilry
63
Hell no! Cristiano is the man with the highest followers but 75% of his followers are fine ladies who do not follow cr5 because of football, in fact they knows little or nothing about football , they follow because of cristiano's wealth, his good look and etc. Messi has the highest number of football followers! Cristiano is the king of Instagram, twitter and facebook but Messi is the king on any football app.
AsadNoori
40
Last time Messi scored more than 2 goals in a match was 1 year 11 month 10 days ago. 🤡 And the opponent was...yes you guessed it right! 😅
vuwacersyz
38
Mangisha
23
One day we should just stop this comparison. No fan wants to lose. Both of these guys are great in their means. We have our preference of course but we should appreciate a beauty where it comes from. I think we Messi lovers, most of us, don't have much problem with Ronaldo. It's the Ronaldo fans. And if you ask me, I understand why. Messi has been, or was, a pain in the ass of most teams. Most Man U friends I have started hating Messi from the 2008 onwards. And the simple truth is Messi has hurt Ronaldo fans more than Ronaldo has hurt Messi fans. Bcos Messi has had more wins against a Ronaldo team than the other way round. And of course Messi has won more individual awards...he is good in his means. But so is Ronaldo... Sometimes we ask Messi to be Ronaldo, to play in the leagues Ronaldo has played and succeeded. But if these two players were exactly the same football would be boring, don't you think? It's not easy but let's try to love these two legends, let's appreciate every good whether from Ronaldo or Messi. Listen, Haaland and Mbappe, they are good. Would be interesting if Haaland went to Barca, I think Real Madrid are most likely to get him too. Maybe we will never see a "Messi" at Barca and a "Ronaldo" at Real Madrid at light up the football like those two did. For that reason, let's love these guys.
Bodemopruz
18
Picture With Thousand's Words!! Cr7 vs Messi's Explained Briefly And Now Messi is Playing With Mbappe And Neimar
peebinpry
11
just believe it that CR7 has more followers than Messi
You’re such a big fool! His comments was not on sacial media Buh goat’s achievements think before you talk fool, that’s how you guys stated arguments
neymarabhi10
9
OKAY NEYMAR 🐐 WITH 170 M FOLLOWERS SAYS HI
satyaballa
9
just believe it that CR7 has more followers than Messi
and no one cares about it, believe me.
Nandha77
9
Mr.Football 🐐