There were big gains for some players and heavy losses for others during the course of the month on social networks. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United were the teams with the most candidates, and in this article, we bring you information on seven of the footballers in the Top 10 chart – from the occupant of the fourth place to the spot 10 owner.
Messi goes down, Van Persie arises
4. Robin Van Persie
Robin van Persie could be the sole man Manchester United fans look up to in attack next season, should Wayne Rooney’s name be erased from the squad. The Dutchman managed to reach the 30-goal mark in his first season at Old Trafford, and this achievement – combined with commitment – leaves room for excitement and much expectation over his input in the club next season.
Speaking of the massive interest Van Persie is benefiting from; he appeared to be the surprise package of the month, rocketing to the fourth spot in the social media popularity chart, as he received almost a million followers on both Facebook and Twitter.
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5. Lionel Messi
There was no real good news for Barcelona’s superstar Lionel Messi, who ended his US tour with more disappointment than success. The Argentinian dropped to fifth place in the chart, gathering less than half a million fans on Facebook. Still, the controversial stories placing him against his tour organizers got fans talking about him over 400,000 times.
It was in Asia that Messi was shown more favour – earning close to 550,000 fans on Chinese network Tencent.
Rooney scores against Madrid this time
6. Wayne Rooney
In number six spot is one of the men that have got the summer transfer market rocking: Wayne Rooney. The man who was once his club’s sweetheart is now set to leave, but should he move to Chelsea as rumour has it, then his popularity could take a new spin.
Chelsea have won two major European titles in two consecutive years, and with the club now led by Jose Mourinho, setting United fans’ hearts on fire by moving to Stamford Bridge could mean getting the utmost attention on social networks for Rooney. The question popping up, however, is if this would be for the best.
Regardless, Rooney – who was talked about 200,000 times on Facebook – gained over 525,000 fans on the leading social network, in addition to more than 200,000 followers on Twitter and Sina respectively.
7. Mesut Ozil
Next up in the list is Real Madrid ace Mesut Ozil. The German star is expected to play a key role in Carlo Ancelotti’s formation next season. In fact, while he might have reasons to anticipate much success in the upcoming term, Ozil has not been doing so bad himself at personal level already in the social media rankings.
He bagged over 480,000 new Facebook likes and 300,000 Twitter followers in July. Just enough to occupy the seventh place in the chart…
8. Kaka
Ozil’s Real Madrid teammate Ricardo Kaka comes just next in the standings, and his statistics go on to prove that the Champions League winner has yet to lose his constant position among the world’s most loved sportsmen on social networks.
Kaka was not only talked about over 360,000 times on Facebook; his charm captured him over 700,000 followers on all his networks.
Ramos surfaces, Ronaldinho hangs on
9. Sergio Ramos
And Sergio Ramos completes our Real Madrid trio in this chart. Yes, the Spanish defender’s name emerged in July; but for what reasons, really? His Confederations Cup medal back in June was not enough to gift him a place in the rankings for that month, so one would assume that his boost in July could be attributed to his new blonde, Quiff hairstyle. On a more serious note, anyone would like to believe that it is all due to his preseason tour.
Nonetheless, whatever the cause may be, he was the receiver of approximately 540,000 new Facebook fans and 55,000 Twitter followers. Ramos also had nearly 30,000 new people in his Google user circles.
10. Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho dropped five places in July to occupy the 10th spot. Whereas he got less Facebook fans than any of the other footballers mentioned earlier in this list, the attacking midfielder attracted 340,000 Twitter members. He was rewarded with 300,000 Facebook likes and was talked about 200,000 times following his historic Copa Libertadores victory with Atletico Mineiro.
To be continued…
Discover who occupied the Top 3 spots of July 2013 in the rankings. The social media data used in this article are brought to you by Starcount. To learn about the rankings and statistics of last month, click here.
Live Soccer TV will come your way early next month with the full data for the month of August.
