London: Lionel Messi starred in the No.1 spot of SportsPro’s 2020 list of World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes. The Argentine, who won sixth Ballon d’Or on December 2019, finished on top, just above his long time rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Not the result we wanted, but with this colective spirit we will be stronger than ever! 💪🏼👊🏼 #finoallafine pic.twitter.com/AIlriKt6gS
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) September 27, 2020
Cristiano finished second followed by NBA star LeBron “King” James, and on 4th position is Indian Cricket team captain Virat Kohli. The fifth spot is occupied by the highest placed female athlete Bianca Andreescu, a Canadian tennis star.
Sharing one of my favorite tips for kids who are now #BackToSchool 🍎📚 from my @Righttoplaycan #RTPInConvo with @anastasure#wellnesswednesday #controlwhatyoucan #mentalfitness pic.twitter.com/JdGDhW33CF
— Bianca (@Bandreescu_) September 16, 2020
SportsPro officials admitted that the fight for top two position was “narrow”. Cristiano and Messi both have been the most high profile sportsperson for a very long time. Although Cristiano is the most followed person on social media with a whooping 238 million followers as compared to Messi’s 167 million.
“Social following, content engagement, fanbase growth over time, media value, and the performance of branded versus organic content,” were some of the factors that were studied by SportsPro.
Cristiano has often been the most marketable athlete ahead of Messi, because of his more number of brand endorsements and worked with more sponsors.
Other than the obvious Messi and Cristiano, there are few other footballers in the Top 10. Neymar Jr. at sixth, Mo Salah at ninth and another Argentine Juventus star Paulo Dybala at tenth.
