The action in Euro 2016 is heating up, and as the tournament’s group stages come to an end, we look at the top 10 European footballers who are followed across social media during Euro 2016. Data has been collected by NewsWhip data.
On top, predictably we have Portugal and Real Madrid’s star man Cristiano Ronaldo. Although Ronaldo has not had the best of tournaments so far, he still remains the most followed footballer on social media by a comfortable margin.
The real surprise is in the second position, which is occupied by Croatian superstar Luka Modric. Modric is undoubtedly one of the best footballers in Euro 2016, but it is surprising as one would not expect him to have the same level of star appeal as Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The top 3 is rounded off by another Real Madrid star Gareth Bale. The Welsh superstar has been in stunning form this Euro 2016 and it is no surprise to see the player so high on this list. The top 3 players are all Real Madrid players and it goes to show how popular the Real Madrid stars are on social media.
Jamie Vardy is the only English footballer at number 6, while Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic also unsurprisingly makes the list in 4th position. The top 10 is rounded off by Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta.
The data has been calculated using the total number of facebook interactions and Twitter shares for the star athletes.
| Rank | Name | FB Likes | FB shares | FB comments | TW Shares | Total |
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 495,894 | 22,023 | 45,218 | 50,290 | 613,425 |
| 2 | Luka Modric | 296,430 | 13,494 | 23,533 | 31,360 | 364,817 |
| 3 | Gareth Bale | 279,940 | 12,045 | 18,805 | 24,880 | 335,670 |
| 4 | Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 220,970 | 4,399 | 7,890 | 14,860 | 248,119 |
| 5 | Dimitri Payet | 208,969 | 4,775 | 6,187 | 18,440 | 238,371 |
| 6 | Jamie Vardy | 156,408 | 5,843 | 10,989 | 15,610 | 188,850 |
| 7 | Eden Hazard | 91,758 | 744 | 1,919 | 4,040 | 98,461 |
| 8 | Antoine Griezmann | 71,015 | 1,133 | 1,123 | 5,450 | 78,721 |
| 9 | Paul Pogba | 69,412 | 849 | 1,138 | 5,540 | 76,939 |
| 10 | Andres Iniesta | 68,388 | 903 | 1,221 | 3,570 | 74,082 |
France has the most representatives on this list with Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet making the list. Social media is largely indicative of the footballer’s popularity and it is indeed a refreshing surprise to see a midfielder like Luka Modric second on this list.
