Not Beckham: Google names most popular footballer since 1999
Google named the most popular football player (Collage: RBC-Ukraine)
Cristiano Ronaldo - the most popular footballer since 1999. The name of this Portuguese forward has been the most frequently searched term on Google for almost the last 25 years, according to statistics published by Google as part of the Trends Time Capsule.
According to the search engine data, from 1999 until 2004, the most popular footballer was David Beckham, who was indeed at the peak of his career at that time.
Before 2003, people were interested in Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, George Best, Diego Maradona, Roberto Carlos, Thierry Henry, once Brandi Chastain, and also Mia Hamm – a former American footballer who set a record for the most international goals in May 1999.
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In 2004, Cristiano Ronaldo burst into the list of the most popular. He then took second place, behind Beckham.
For two consecutive years, Ronaldo was behind Ronaldinho in popularity. However, from 2007, the current player for Saudi's Al-Nassr topped the ranking as the most searched footballer in the world on Google for 16 consecutive years.
In 2023, Cristiano lost the lead. According to the latest search engine statistics, this year, he was surpassed for the first time by the "Inter Miami" striker Lionel Messi, who regularly made it into the top five but hadn't previously claimed the first position.
The 5 most popular footballers in 2023
- Lionel Messi
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Neymar
- Kylian Mbappe
- Erling Haaland
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Recently, Cristiano scored his fiftieth goal in 2023, allowing the 38-year-old veteran to surpass Mbappe and Harry Kane, who scored 49 goals each, and catch up with Haaland.
Meanwhile, his eternal rival Messi was named the world's best footballer for the eighth time this year.
