We see an abundance of players social media followers sky rocket after an international - but which footballer obtained the most followers on Instagram from the World Cup 2022 in Qatar?
A stunning World Cup campaign comes to a glorious end as Lionel Messi‘s Argentina side defeated France in what was one of the greatest cup finals of all time. Messi grabbed two goals alongside Angel Di Maria and a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick which saw the game go all the way to penalties, in which Argentina kept their cool to become champions of the world.
A game that will go down in the history books epitomised the tournament as a whole, despite all the controversies surrounding the ethical issues going into the tournament, it's safe to say the football did the talking throughout and Qatar 2022 was a hell of a footballing spectacle.
With so many eyes on the players, it was bound to be the case that many would receive adoring new fans on social media platforms and we'd see an abundance of players social media followers sky rocket - but which footballer obtained the most followers on Instagram from the World Cup 2022 in Qatar?
Find out everything you need to know below.
Read more: World Cup 2022: Dates, Schedule, Location, Groups, Tickets, Odds And More
Top 20 most followed footballers from the Qatar World Cup
LUSAIL CITY, QATAR - NOVEMBER 26: Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates scoring their team's first goal during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group C match between Argentina and Mexico at Lusail Stadium on November 26, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Thanks to data collected by AceOdds, we can see the top 20 most followed footballers from the Qatar World Cup.
No surprise who tops the charts, Lionel Messi grew by a whopping 21.5 million followers and also now has the title of the most liked Instagram post ever after his upload from the final victory. Just another record in the books for this magical man from Argentina.
His sporting rival in Cristiano Ronaldo appears second but absolutely trumps Messi in the number of followers he has already.
AceOdds also measured the growth percentage of players, which saw the most meteoric rise belong to Cho Gue-Sung of South Korea, whose two goals against Ghana in the group stage proved popular as he gained an additional 2.8 million followers as a result - an 8000% rise from the 32 thousand who had followed him previously.
You can check out the full list of players in the table below.
|
Player |
Team |
Before WC |
After WC |
Growth |
% Growth |
|
Lionel Messi |
Argentina |
376,638,617 |
398,235,657 |
21,597,040 |
6% |
|
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Portugal |
500,037,458 |
518,799,372 |
18,761,914 |
4% |
|
Neymar |
Brazil |
182,843,862 |
196,432,351 |
13,588,489 |
7% |
|
Richarlison |
Brazil |
7,345,331 |
19,575,967 |
12,230,636 |
167% |
|
Kylian Mbappe |
France |
73,516,183 |
82,894,787 |
9,378,604 |
13% |
|
Gavi |
Spain |
7,490,199 |
12,144,451 |
4,654,252 |
62% |
|
Julian Alvarez |
Argentina |
2,923,378 |
6,902,619 |
3,979,241 |
136% |
|
Achraf Hakimi |
Morocco |
10,577,529 |
13,899,210 |
3,321,681 |
31% |
|
Vinicius Junior |
Brazil |
24,571,134 |
27,826,516 |
3,255,382 |
13% |
|
Emiliano Martinez |
Argentina |
4,307,802 |
7,509,392 |
3,201,590 |
74% |
|
Antony |
Brazil |
6,188,320 |
9,349,454 |
3,161,134 |
51% |
|
Enzo Fernandez |
Argentina |
883,161 |
4,000,732 |
3,117,571 |
353% |
|
Rodrigo De Paul |
Argentina |
5,580,235 |
8,621,127 |
3,040,892 |
54% |
|
Yassine Bounou |
Morocco |
1,954,315 |
4,871,359 |
2,917,044 |
149% |
|
Cho Gue-Sung |
South Korea |
32,403 |
2,875,270 |
2,842,867 |
8773% |
|
Son Heung-Min |
South Korea |
8,281,988 |
10,806,949 |
2,524,961 |
30% |
|
Jude Bellingham |
England |
3,024,561 |
5,349,447 |
2,324,886 |
77% |
|
Angel Di Maria |
Argentina |
18,945,129 |
21,236,083 |
2,290,954 |
12% |
|
Lucas Paqueta |
Brazil |
6,472,920 |
8,742,116 |
2,269,196 |
35% |
|
Hakim Ziyech |
Morocco |
6,469,348 |
8,694,348 |
2,225,000 |
34% |
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