Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi to be named the 'most powerful' player on Instagram at the 2022 World Cup

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named as the most powerful player on Instagram at the 2022 World Cup.

Portugal captain Ronaldo leads the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe as the most influential player on the social media platform after having a 48 per cent increase in followers in the last year.

The Manchester United striker now is now followed by 481 million people on Instagram and is ranked as the most influential player that is likely to compete at the World Cup in Qatar, according to the BBC.

The rankings are based on Nielsen's influencer measurement tool, which evaluates total followers, follower growth, engagement rate and average brand value per post on Instagram.

Ronaldo is believed to have a huge post value of $3,585,218 (£3,131,096).

His great rival Lionel Messi, who is now followed by 360 million people – a 38 per cent growth in the last year, is ranked second on the list.

The Argentina international also has a massive post value of $2,631,388 (£2,298,083).

Ronaldo is now followed by more than 481 million people on Instagram (Image: Alamy)

Messi is followed by two of his Paris Saint-Germain teammates, Brazil international Neymar and France striker Mbappe.

Real Madrid duo Vinicius Jr (Brazil) and Karim Benzema (France) are fifth and sixth on the list, while Argentina's Paulo Dybala is seventh.

Apart from Ronaldo, the only other Premier League player in the top 10 is Chelsea and France midfielder N'Golo Kante in eighth.

Jadon Sancho has been ranked as the most influential English player on Instagram (Image: Alamy)

His international teammate Paul Pogba his ninth, while Spain's Sergio Ramos rounds off the top 10.

Manchester United forward Jadon Sancho has been named the most influential English player, while Spain and Barcelona's Gavi is the breakthrough star with a 5,165 per cent growth in followers in the last year.

Top 10 most influential footballers on Instagram at 2022 World Cup

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) - 481m followers - £3,131,096 value per post

Lionel Messi (Argentina) - 360m followers - £2,298,083 value per post

Neymar (Brazil) - 178m followers - £1,006,007 value per post

Kylian Mbappe (France) - 73m followers - £1,024,359 value per post

Vinicius Jr (Brazil) - 23m followers - £598,154 value per post

Karim Benzema (France) - 58m followers - £427,137 value per post

Paulo Dybala (Argentina) - 49m followers - £429,152 value per post

N'Golo Kante (France) - 14m followers - £458,514 value per post

Paul Pogba (France) - 59m followers - £355,810 value per post

Sergio Ramos (Spain) - 55m followers - £321,845 value per post

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Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Manchester United, Portugal, Football World Cup, Football

Rory O'Callaghan

Rory O'Callaghan is Editorial Lead at SPORTbible. He has previously worked for Sky Sports News, MailOnline and Reach covering football, cricket, boxing and MMA. Tested daily as a Liverpool fan in a Manchester office.

@rory_ocallaghan