Meet the AI-Drafted World’s Social Media Stars Football Team

Not only did Messi beat France when he snatched the FIFA World Cup trophy, he also beat an ordinary brown egg, which once held the world record for most Instagram likes with 57 million. Messi’s photo with his trophy, however, garnered 67 million likes in the first few hours alone.

Messi is unsurprisingly the most popular football player on social media. But who else tops that list? The AI-based media intelligence solution Smelter.ai created the World Social Media Stars team based on popularity and positions.

Smelter.ai found the top 26 players using data from the number of Twitter and YouTube comment mentions from the beginning to the end of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The best 11 — including four forwards, three midfielders, three defenders, and one goalkeeper — were drafted into the team.

Compared to the famous FIFA Men’s World 11, only Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo made both teams. Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Kevin De Bruyne, Jorginho, N’Golo Kanté, David Alaba, Leonardo Bonucci, Rúben Dias, and Gianluigi Donnarumma made FIFA’s radar but lost out on social media popularity.

Forwards

Christiano Ronaldo: 2nd place

Cristiano Ronaldo

With five Ballon d’Or awards under his belt, the Portuguese striker holds the world record of highest Instagram follower count when he reached 500 million — over 100 million ahead of his nearest rival Messi — but his track in the World Cup has since been halted with Morocco’s historical win against Portugal in the quarterfinals. He currently is not affiliated with any club after parting with Manchester United in November.

Neymar: 3rd place

Neymar

The Brazilian footballer plays for Paris Saint-Germain.

Kylian Mbappe: 4th place

Kylian Mbappe

Also a Paris Saint-Germain player, the French footballer is a close friend of his teammate Moroccan player Achraf Hakimi. The two faced each other in the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with Mbappe advancing to the final where he scored a hat-trick but eventually lost to Messi’s Argentina in the penalty shootout. Nevertheless, Mbappe was awarded with a Golden Boot with eight total goals in the tournament.

Richarlison: 5th place

Richarlison

Playing striker alongside Ronaldo in the Social Media Stars Team, the Brazilian plays for Tottenham Hotspur.

Midfielders

Lionel Messi: 1st place (C)

It’d be hard to find a person in the world who hasn’t heard of the Argentine star. His potentially final FIFA World Cup appearance included highly-reported matches including a shocking loss to Saudi Arabia, a close shave with Croatia, and a legendary finish against France. With his record-breaking seven Ballon d’Or awards and two Golden Balls, the Paris Saint-Germain player doubled his rival Ronaldo’s social media appearances, according to Smelter.ai.

Lionel Messi

Luka Modric: 7th place

The Croatian player for Real Madrid tied with Morocco in the 2022 FIFA World Cup group stages before defeating the Atlas Lions in the play-offs for third place.

Luka Modric

Jude Bellingham: 9th place

Jude Bellingham

Aged 19, the English player for Borussia Dortmund is the youngest on the Social Media Stars team.

Defenders

Harry Maguire: 14th place

Harry Maguire

The English footballer plays for Manchester United.

Enzo Fernandez: 16th place

Enzo Fernandez

The Argentine player for Benfica is usually a midfielder but Smelter.ai notes that forwards and midfielders tend to take up top social media popularity places compared to defenders, so Fernandez is taking on a less familiar position in this Social Media Stars Team.

Achraf Hakimi: 25th place

Achraf Hakimi

A Paris Saint-Germain player, Hakimi played a central role in Morocco’s storybook run in the 2022 FIFA World Cups, defeating Belgium, Canada, Spain, and Portugal. Despite being eligible to play for Spain, Hakimi chose Morocco because of his culture and eventually scored the winning goal in the penalty shootout against Spain. With the other Atlas Lions, Hakimi was welcomed back to Morocco with a jubilant parade and a royal reception.