England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney leads the way in the Home Nations football league table for social media followers. The ranking has been compiled by Britain’s leading independent specialist sports PR and communications consultancy Macesport, who handle the media and PR activation of , as part of their sponsorship of the four Home Nations football teams. News broke this week that Rooney has become the first UK athlete to pass 10 million followers on Twitter but it has not been widely acknowledged that he also tops the Facebook chart with 24. 7 million fans. The former Everton striker, who is fourth on the all-time England scoring chart with 41 goals, has amassed over 35 million fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Wales and Real Madrid star Gareth Bale is second in the overall ranking with almost 30 million social media fans. Bale does list highest in the Instagram table by some distance, having built up a following of over 3. 1 million on the online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service. The complete list includes 20 international players, who total 102. 3 million fans.
Macesport, the sports PR company behind the first-ever – England’s Roy Hodgson, Northern Ireland’s Michael O’Neill, Scotland’s Gordon Strachan and Wales’ Chris Coleman – and the launch of exclusive video , believe that the figures speak volumes about the impact of social media in modern day sport.
Macesport managing director Paul Mace said: “These figures demonstrate the huge influence and engagement footballers exert across all strands of social media and across the whole of society. “In the coming years, we would expect to see these figures to continue to demonstrate substantial growth. “Footballers – and sports athletes in general – are realising the huge potential which exists in social media for them to communicate directly in a fun and entertaining way. ”
The full Home Nations football rankings can be found below:
TOP 20 OVERALL
|
Player |
No of Facebook Fans |
No of Twitter Followers |
No. of Instagram Followers |
Total |
|
Wayne Rooney |
24. 8m |
10m |
1. 2m |
35. 9m |
|
Gareth Bale |
20. 8m |
5. 4m |
3. 1m |
29. 3m |
|
Aaron Ramsey |
3. 6m |
1. 6m |
750k |
5. 9m |
|
Jack Wilshere |
3. 2m |
1. 6m |
560k |
5. 3m |
|
Daniel Sturridge |
3. 1m |
1. 2m |
900k |
5. 2m |
|
Theo Walcott |
3. 8m |
555k |
280k |
4. 5m |
|
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
1. 6m |
1. 7m |
547k |
3. 8m |
|
Raheem Sterling |
1. 3m |
1m |
600k |
2. 9m |
|
Phil Jones |
980k |
1. 7m |
250k |
2. 8m |
|
Gary Cahill |
1. 7m |
500k |
n/a |
2. 2m |
|
Luke Shaw |
170k |
610k |
220k |
1m |
|
Glen Johnson |
70k |
1m |
n/a |
1m |
|
Jordan Henderson |
860k |
n/a |
n/a |
860k |
|
Calum Chambers |
55k |
220k |
155k |
430k |
|
Jon Flanagan |
n/a |
360k |
n/a |
360k |
|
Andros Townsend |
n/a |
265k |
n/a |
265k |
|
Fraser Forster |
n/a |
200k |
27k |
230k |
|
Ben Foster |
n/a |
200k |
18k |
220k |
|
Joe Ledley |
n/a |
140K |
25k |
165k |
|
Phil Jagielka |
n/a |
150k |
n/a |
150k |
TOP 10 FACEBOOK
|
Player |
|
No of Fans |
|
Wayne Rooney |
https://www. facebook. com/WayneRooney |
24. 8m |
|
Gareth Bale |
https://www. facebook. com/Bale |
20. 8m |
|
Theo Walcott |
https://www. facebook. com/TheoWalcott |
3. 8m |
|
Aaron Ramsey |
https://www. facebook. com/aaronramsey |
3. 6m |
|
Jack Wilshere |
https://www. facebook. com/jackwilshere |
3. 2m |
|
Daniel Sturridge |
https://www. facebook. com/DanSturridge |
3. 1m |
|
Gary Cahill |
https://www. facebook. com/garyjcahill |
1. 7m |
|
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
https://www. facebook. com/alexoxchamberlain |
1. 6m |
|
Raheem Sterling |
https://www. facebook. com/sterling31official |
1. 3m |
|
Phil Jones |
https://www. facebook. com/PJ4Official |
980k |
TOP 10 TWITTER
|
Player |
|
No of Followers |
|
Wayne Rooney |
https://twitter. com/WayneRooney |
10m |
|
Gareth Bale |
https://twitter. com/GarethBale11 |
5. 4m |
|
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
https://twitter. com/Alex_OxChambo |
1. 7m |
|
Phil Jones |
https://twitter. com/PhilJones4 |
1. 7m |
|
Aaron Ramsey |
https://twitter. com/aaronramsey |
1. Die verglaste, klimatisierte kombination aus gitterbett und essay kosten www.schreib-essay.com laufstall soll seiner tochter zumindest nicht geschadet haben. 6m |
|
Jack Wilshere |
https://twitter. com/JackWilshere |
1. 6m |
|
Daniel Sturridge |
https://twitter. com/D_Sturridge |
1. 2m |
|
Glen Johnson |
https://twitter. com/glen_johnson |
1m |
|
Raheem Sterling |
https://twitter. com/sterling31 |
1m |
|
Theo Walcott |
https://twitter. com/theowalcott |
555k |
|
Gary Cahill |
https://twitter. com/GaryJCahill |
500k |
TOP 10 INSTAGRAM
|
Player |
|
No. of Followers |
|
Gareth Bale |
http://instagram. com/garethbale11 |
3. 1m |
|
Wayne Rooney |
http://instagram. com/waynerooney |
1. 2m |
|
Daniel Sturridge |
http://instagram. com/dstudge |
900k |
|
Aaron Ramsey |
http://instagram. com/aaronramsey |
750k |
|
Raheem Sterling |
http://instagram. com/31sterling |
600k |
|
Jack Wilshere |
http://instagram. com/jackwilshere |
560k |
|
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
http://instagram. com/alexoxchamberlain |
547k |
|
Theo Walcott |
http://instagram. com/theowalcott |
280k |
|
Phil Jones |
http://instagram. com/philjones_4 |
250k |
|
Luke Shaw |
http://instagram. com/lukeshaw23 |
220k |
Macesport has compiled the Home Nations Social Media Rankings – Top 20.
Download the high-res infographic by.
Follow us on Twitter –
Like us on Facebook –
.