Christiano Ronaldo has become the first athlete with over 200 million followers
according to Hookit, the website that tracks the followings of sports stars on social media. Across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the Real Madrid star has more followers than the combined totals of NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kobe Bryant, showing the Portuguese’s enormous appeal worldwide.
Ronaldo finished second to Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or voting in January. But while he may trail the Barcelona star on the pitch, Ronaldo has proved more media-savvy off it. He has established his own brand, CR7, and regularly posts pictures of his business partnerships on Instagram. On Tuesday, Ronaldo was promoting his modelling for Sacoor Brothers, the menswear company. Last week, Ronaldo’s commitment to social media saw him labelled a “spornosexual” by British journalist Mark Simpson—a heady fusion of sport, metrosexuality and pornography used to describe a man who takes care of his appearance to extreme lengths.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.