Andre Onana is named as most popular Cameroon player at the Qatar World Cup 2022 - as Ronaldo Crowned World Cup Influencer King

In the Cameroon squad André Onanais the most followed player with 1.42 million followers, well ahead of compatriots Karl Toko Ekambi (505,000) and Christian Bassogog (325,000). The combined 26-man Cameroon squad has more followers (4.2 million). The Cameroon national football association has an audience of 1.14 million. The top ten most followed players in the squad are detailed below.

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 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 xxBillion 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:

André Onana’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 Cameroon. He is able to reach 1.4M people at the touch of his phone or tablet. The equivalent to reaching over 51% of the population of Cameroon’s capital city: Yaoundé (2.7M).

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 reach 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 and Neymar 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 view a table of the full player statistics click here

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

Click here to jump to Group A

Click here to jump to Group B

Click here to jump to Group C

Click here to jump to Group D

Click here to jump to Group E

Click here to jump to Group F

Click here to jump to Group G

Click here to jump to Group H

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

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.