Ballon d’Or nominees Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the two overall most popular footballers on Facebook according to data analysed around conversations on the platform. The most talked about Ballon d’Or contender was Cristiano Ronaldo, taking 27% of all conversation on the players in contention for the prize. Neymar came in second place with 25% of conversation about the international star followed by Lionel Messi in third place who took 14% of the conversation.
Ahead of FIFA’s award announcement for the recipient of the prestigious FIFA Ballon d’Or trophy on Monday, Facebook’s data team analysed anonymous and aggregated social conversation data in 14 different countries around the world, to find out who is the most talked about player from the 23-man list of contenders. Those countries were UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Portugal, Turkey, Poland, US, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
27% Of Facebook Favor Cristiano Ronaldo To Win The Ballon d’Or
In April 2015, Facebook announced that 650 million people are connected to sports Pages, which makes Facebook the single largest community of sports fans in the world. Facebook also rolled out new products like Live for Facebook Mentions and 360 Video on Facebook to help sportspeople, teams, leagues and our sports media partners connect and engage with their fans on Facebook in spontaneous and creative ways.
The top 11 most talked about Ballon d’Or contenders globally (all 14 countries combined) include:
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 27%
- Neymar – 25%
- Lionel Messi – 14%
- Sergio Aguero – 5%
- Karim Benzema – 4%
- Luis Suarez – 4%
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 3%
- Alexis Sánchez – 2%
- James Rodriguez – 2%
- Gareth Bale – 2%
- Eden Hazard – 1%
The data was analysed from when the shortlist was announced on 20 October 2015 to 3 January 2016.