While Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr signed 37-year-old legend Cristiano Ronaldo mainly to succeed on the pitch, the arrival of one of the world’s most famous athletes came as no surprise with a huge social media surge from the player who follows the club together.
Ronaldo left Manchester United on a free transfer in November and signed a 2 1/2-year deal with Al Nassr worth $75 million a year. Unveiled in Riyadh three days ago, Al Nassr has since seen his Instagram followers grow from 853,000 to well over 10 million.
To date, the club boasts 10.2 million followers on the platform, more than any other club in the English Premier League outside the traditional Big Six.
The growth was sparked by a joint post between Al Nassr and Ronaldo himself to officially announce the move on December 30, which garnered 33.6 million likes, making it Ronaldo’s third most liked Instagram post of all time and the eighth most liked post ever on Instagram. shared on social media site.
Al Nassr’s official Twitter account, which went from 3.4 million to 3.8 million followers in just a few days, also received a boost.
Ronaldo is yet to make his Al Nassr debut as he completes a two-match ban imposed by the English Football Association in November for slapping a phone out of the hands of an Everton fan after a match with Manchester United at Goodison Park last season. have. But he has already helped them to an early win against Saudi rivals Al Hilal, previously the most followed club in the Middle East with 3.6m Instagram followers.
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Perhaps the impressive extent of Ronaldo’s social media influence shouldn’t be too shocking given that the Portuguese international is the most followed person on Instagram with nearly 530 million followers.
However, it is strange to think that the Saudi club can now boast more Instagram followers than established European heavyweights such as Napoli (3.3m), Ajax (7.9m), Marseille (2.6m) and Inter Milan (8. 8 million).
Al Nassr is certainly benefiting from his newfound superstardom when it comes to his social media spending, with 29 of his 37 most recent posts featuring Ronaldo front and center. It’s hard to blame the club for hyping him up, but we can’t help but feel a little pity for the other players in Rudi Garcia’s squad.
