SEATTLE - The date is almost upon us. On June 20, Argentina and Canada will entertain thousands of fans at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the opening match of Copa América 2024.
Most matches have sold out and hotels are filling up ahead of the second Copa América to take place in the United States. But as teams finish up their preparations for the tournament, there's another place where teams fight for supremacy: the virtual world.
According to data from SocialPubli, an agency that specializes on international marketing, the national teams of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico lead the way for all 16 participating teams in the virtual world with more than 90 million followers in all their social media accounts.
"Players, clubs and national teams have found in social media a space where they can bring the sport to even the most hidden corner in the planet," said Ismail El-Qudsi, CEO of SocialPubli. "It's no surprise that Lionel Messi is one of the individuals with the biggest amount of followers on Instagram. His influence is absolute and we wouldn't be able to understand soccer in this time and age without social media," El-Qudsi added.
Brazil leads the battle off the pitch thanks to its virtual following of more than 36 million between its Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube accounts. Real Madrid's star, Vinícius Júnior, is the third-most influential player in social media with more than 90 million followers.
Mexico ranks second with 29 million followed by Argentina with 26 million followers.
As one of the most important international tournaments in soccer, Copa América stands as a powerful brand that teams can use to their advantage. According to a recent poll by Ad Age, Copa América 2024 has gained a lot of popularity among U.S consumers between the ages of 18-24.
Copa América 2024 ranks third in terms of growth with an increase of 9% compared to 2023 and sit only behind Ugg and the Dollar Shave Club in terms of growth.
Most followed teams in Copa América 2024 - Top 10 (Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube accounts)
- Brazil - 36,700,000 followers
- Mexico - 29,209,000 followers
- Argentina - 26,923,000 followers
- Colombia - 14,379,800 followers
- United States - 8,939,100 followers
- Chile - 6,320,900 followers
- Peru - 4,405,000 followers
- Uruguay - 3,291,600 followers
- Venezuela - 1,903,100 followers
- Ecuador - 1,793,700 followers
In terms of players, no one comes close to Lionel Messi's following. The Argentine, with more than 620 million followers across social media, has almost five times more followers than the second-placed player, the Colombian James Rodríguez, who possesses 111,900,000 followers across his social media platforms.
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