We can reveal the footballers who have gained the biggest Instagram followers since the competition began, and it’s very interesting to see how good performances have seen players gain big Instagram followings.
Since our last update on 22 June, Vozinha’s Instagram following has continued to grow at a remarkable rate. The Cape Verde goalkeeper sits entirely apart from the rest.
Vozinha, Cape Verde’s goalkeeper, ends the group stage with 17,273,781 followers on Instagram. He started the tournament with 31,538. That is a gain of 17,242,243 followers and a percentage increase of 54.671% over three weeks. His estimated earnings per sponsored post have gone from roughly £249 at kick-off to over £135,900 by the end of the group stage.
The Largest Instagram Follower Gains Since the World Cup Began
Lionel Messi (Argentina) was the second-biggest gainer with 4,578,743 followers, taking his new total to 511,117,817 followers.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) added 4,291,888 followers to reach 669,938,763 followers in total, the highest of any player at the tournament, putting his estimated earnings per post at over £5.27m.
Endrick (Brazil) is third with 4,147,875 followers, a rise of 22.7% from his pre-tournament total. He ends the group stage with 22,454,320 followers and estimated earnings of £176,700 per post.
Erling Haaland (Norway) added 3,502,489 followers despite Norway’s exit, a rise of 8.6%, and Neymar (Brazil) rounds out the top six with an additional 3,337,737 followers.
The most striking name in the six-to-ten ranking is Douglas Santos (Brazil), whose account went from 192,754 followers to 2,503,051 followers, a rise of 1,199%. He places seventh overall. Michael Olise (France) gained 1,915,059 followers (+36.9%), Vinicius Junior (Brazil) added 1,764,280 (+2.9%), and Matheus Cunha (Brazil) gained 1,684,402 (+42.9%) to complete the top ten.
Notable Percentage Gains
Several players outside the top ten by raw numbers recorded staggering percentage gains. Eloy Room (Curaçao) gained 1,091,555 new followers, a rise of 1,182%, taking his account from 92,343 to 1,183,898 followers. His estimated earnings per post moved from under £730 to over £9,300 across the group stage.
Cape Verde had several other players benefit from the Vozinha effect. Diney Borges rose 919% (+191,564 new followers) and Joao Paulo gained 718% (+119,801 new followers). Morocco’s Ayyoub Bouaddi added 292% (+313,298 new followers).
Among players who started the tournament with very small followings, Trevor Doornbusch (Curaçao) rose 2,886% from a base of 1,606 followers, Patrick Beach (Australia) gained 1,316% from 3,307 followers, and Elijah Just (New Zealand) grew 617% from 8,960 followers.
You can see the top 100 players who have gained the most Instagram followers thus far in the interactive graphic below:
Nations: Cape Verde top the group stage table
Cape Verde finished the group stage with the highest combined follower gains of any nation, with an additional 18,237,885 followers across their squad. The figure is almost entirely driven by Vozinha, but the squad as a whole benefited from the wider attention. Brazil were second with a rise of 16,959,358 followers across a large and heavily followed squad, ahead of Argentina in third on with an additional 11,674,583. Portugal rounded out the top four with 7,198,903 followers gained.
The full group stage rankings
MyBettingSites.co.uk has analysed the Instagram accounts of 1,200+ players and their Instagram following gains tracked across the group stage. Below is our table, searchable by name or nation.
You can also have a look at the Latest Sports & Betting News.
Methodology
- Instagram follower counts were recorded for all players named in the 48 World Cup squads, with the latest data collected on 8 June 2026.
- Estimated earnings per sponsored post are calculated using an industry benchmark of potentially earning $10 per 1,000 followers, converted to GBP at the prevailing rate.
- Figures are estimates only and do not account for engagement rates or exclusivity agreements.
- In total, 1244 players were analysed. 32 players either have no Instagram account or have an account that is not publicly accessible; these players are excluded from all follower and earnings totals.
