Cristiano Ronaldo Real MadridGonzalo Arroyo Moreno

Ronaldo, Neymar & the top 25 most-followed footballers on Instagram

Ask three football fans who the best player in the world is and there's a decent chance you'll get three different answers.

What is harder to argue against, though, is Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo's status as the most popular footballer on the planet.

That is evidenced in Ronaldo's incredible social-media presence, where he boasts a total follower count across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram of over 313 million.

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The Real forward is by far the most popular player on Instagram, where photos of his daily life have attracted over 121 million followers as of March 2018.

That puts him 31 million ahead of his nearest competitor Neymar, who has shot ahead of Lionel Messi on the back of his world-record move to PSG.

Insta followers

Messi is less than two million followers behind Neymar but after that there is a huge gulf to the next player, with ex-Manchester United star David Beckham over 45 million fans adrift of the Argentine.

Ronaldinho (30 million) is the only retired player to come close to Beckham (43 million) on Instagram, with Zinedine Zidane (16 million) also featuring further down the top 25. Robert Lewandowski (12 million) narrowly misses out, while Luka Modric is just short of 10 million.

The most popular active British player is Ronaldo's Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale (33 million) by a comfortable margin. 

The most talented young players in the world, meanwhile, have a long way to go before they compete with the established superstars.

Kylian Mbappe (7 million), Gabriel Jesus (six million), Ousmane Dembele, Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford (all four million) and Dele Alli (three million) are not anywhere near the top 25 at the moment.


THE MOST-FOLLOWED FOOTBALLERS ON INSTAGRAM


PlayerTeamUsernameFollowers
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madridcristiano 121m
Neymar PSGneymarjr 90m
Lionel Messi Barcelonaleomessi 88m
David Beckham Retireddavidbeckham 43m
James Rodriguez Bayern Munichjamesrodriguez10 35m
Gareth Bale Real Madridgarethbale11 33m
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Manchester Unitediamzlatanibrahimovic 30m
Ronaldinho Retiredronaldinho 30m
Luis Suarez Barcelonaluissuarez9 26m
Marcelo Real Madridmarcelotwelve 23m
Karim Benzema Real Madridkarimbenzema 22m
Sergio Ramos Real Madridsergioramos 22m
Andres Iniesta Barcelonaandresiniesta8 21m
Paul Pogba Manchester Unitedpaulpogba 21m
David Luiz Chelseadavidluiz_4 18m
Dani Alves PSGdanialves 18m
Zinedine Zidane Retiredzidane 16m
Mesut Ozil Arsenalm10_official 15m
Toni Kroos Real Madridtoni.kr8s 15m
Gerard Pique Barcelona3gerardpique 15m
Antoine Griezmann Atletico Madridantogriezmann 15m
Paulo Dybala Juventuspaulodybala 13m
Thiago Silva PSGthiagosilva_33 13m
Kaka Orlando Citykaka 13m
Iker Casillas Portoikercasillas 12m
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