Gareth Southgate left Jadon Sancho out of his Nations League squad, but the Manchester United forward is England’s most influential player on Instagram ahead of the World Cup.
Nielsen Sports have conducted an analysis ahead of Qatar hosting the 22nd edition of the Fifa tournament in November and December. It focused on the stars who are expected to play in the Middle East with Cristiano Ronaldo named as the most influential on Instagram.
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As cited by BBC Sport, Ronaldo registered a 47% increase in followers over the past year to pull clear of Lionel Messi. The Portugal icon has 480 million followers and averages more than $3.5m (£3m) in media value a post, and Messi has 360m and averages $2.6m (£2.3m).
Sancho is the most influential England player on Instagram before World Cup
Nielsen Sports’ average media valuations are based on a player’s total followers, follower growth, engagement rate and average brand value. It found that no England player ranks in the top-10, with Sancho their highest with 8.9m followers and an 8% engagement rate.
But Sancho could face a fight to make the plane to Qatar for the World Cup later this year after Southgate omitted the forward from his England team for this month’s UEFA Nations League ties. The 22-year-old has not featured in any Three Lions camp since October 2021.
The Manchester United winger also enjoyed a 21% increase in followers over the past year in line with his £73m move from Borussia Dortmund. Aaron Ramsdale has also registered a 920% increase across the past year since he joined Arsenal from Sheffield United for £30m.
Yet Ramsdale’s increase is nothing compared to Spain and Barcelona wonderkid Gavi, who has registered a 5,165% rise. The 18-year-old enjoyed his Blaugrana debut in August 2021, and continued a rapid rise throughout last term with his La Roja bow following in October.
Gavi’s posts also have an engagement rate of nearly 30%, while his value per post averages at $377k (£333k) – more than Sergio Ramos. The Paris Saint-Germain and Spain star ranks 10th for overall influence on Instagram with 53m followers, but has a $369k (£325k) value.
Ronaldo tops the 10 most influential players on Instagram from the 32 teams set to play at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Messi ranks second, above Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema, Paulo Dybala, N’Golo Kante, Paulo Pogba and Ramos ranks 10th.
Who is the most influential country set to play in Qatar later this year?
Defending World Cup champions France will head to Qatar as the most influential country on Instagram. Nielsen Sports show Les Bleus have 11.7m followers on the social media site and 65% of their total following comes from supporters who live outside the country itself.
Portugal have the highest percentage of followers who are based outside its borders with 86.5% living outside the nation. The Selecao also have the third-most followers with 10.4m behind Brazil (11.5m), but ahead of England (8.5m), Argentina (7.3m) and Mexico (5.9m).
Germany have 4.9m followers to Spain (4m), Morocco (1.5m) and the Netherlands (1.3m) to round out the top 10. But while 73% of Die Mannschaft’s total following live outside the country, just 36% of Brazil’s and 33.5% of Morocco’s come from those who live elsewhere.
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