Cristiano Ronaldo’s name has been mentioned a lot, when he scored to help Al Nassr defeat Esteghlal 3-0 in the second leg of the AFC Champions League Round of 16. For Ronaldo personally, this was the 927th goal in his professional football career. A truly impressive number for a striker who just turned 40 last February. Not only exploding on the field, Ronaldo is also winning big in the digital field.
A study by Horizm, an artificial intelligence company, has found that Cristiano Ronaldo tops the rankings that classify the engagement and earning power of athletes through their social networks. According to the company, the Al Nassr striker generated 145.8 million euros in digital transactions last year, related to his brand. This is a number that makes many people admire the ability of the star, who has won the Ballon d’Or five times, to make money from the digital field.
It is also worth noting that on social media, Ronaldo has become the most followed person in the world, surpassing 1 billion followers, of which Instagram is his main platform with 648 million fans. In addition, Cristiano Ronaldo’s global influence also brings other impressive numbers. Every year, Ronaldo generates 22.3 million news stories in the media worldwide, and is recorded 187 million searches on Google. At the same time, Ronaldo is mentioned in 4,000 books on Amazon and appears in 63,000 scientific articles.
“Cristiano Ronaldo always brings surprises to everyone, regardless of the field,” commented a representative of Horizm company, “It is a vivid proof of Ronaldo’s strong interaction and appeal on this platform.” When mentioning Ronaldo, we cannot ignore a recent study by the Portuguese Institute of Management and Marketing (IMPAM) showing that the former Real Madrid striker’s CR7 brand has reached a record value of 850 million euros in 2025, an increase of 325% compared to 2020.
After more than 15 years of analyzing the development of the CR7 brand, IPAM used the “Sports Reputation” index, a method applied by the organization itself to evaluate Ronaldo’s overall impact. It is based on the aggregate results obtained through a series of indicators such as: income, media, social networks, achievements, social influence and impact.
According to Horizm’s research, the second place in the Top 10 athletes who earn the most money in the digital field is Lionel Messi. Specifically, the Argentine star currently playing for Inter Miami in the US professional football league (MLS) pocketed 38.2 million euros. Next is Mbappe with a revenue of 22.1 million euros and Neymar with 20.1 million euros. At the bottom of the list is veteran center-back Sergio Ramos with 5.7 million euros.
