LeBron only the 7th most popular athlete in the world...

[jzek]

...if you go by Facebook and Twitter fans/followers:

http://i.imgur.com/gG0gRcb.png

[Fudge]

Only? :whatever:

[Beastmode88]

I still find it funny how popular Jordan is after not having played in the NBA for 10+ years.

[Jailblazers7]

I still find it funny how popular Jordan is after not having played in the NBA for 10+ years.

It's based on Twitter followers too...didn't Jordan just create his account?

[Dragic4Life]

Lebron surpassing Jordan. Nice.

[riseagainst]

kobe not on here.

:oldlol:

[Beastmode88]

It's based on Twitter followers too...didn't Jordan just create his account?

MJ said he never had twitter but taken over the Hornet's twitter for a day.

[Pointguard]

Funny, I rarely hear any of us talking about their twitter or fb page just not a BB fan thing to do???? I know I don't do twitter at all and I don't use fb like that.

[CelticBaller]

most popular ball player

[imdaman99]

Of course he's the most popular basketball player. Dude is a diva that shows up to big events, even goes to other team's games and makes stupid quotes in the media. Dude was slobbering on Odell Beckham and wanted to have dinner with him because he knew it was going to be written about by everyone after he made the catch. Wouldn't be surprised if he volunteered to be in Johnny Football's entourage during the off-season because it will keep him in the limelight. He is the Kim Kardashian of athletes. He has more talent than her though, because her sex tape was shit :oldlol:

[imnew09]

kobe not on here.

:oldlol:
Thats what you call the blind by hatred syndrome

[hateraid]

Who's Christiano Ronaldo? :confusedshrug:

[20Four]

kobe not on here.

:oldlol:
Are you that stupid? Or blind? Or do you have Lebron James syndrome?

[Done_And_Done]

Kaka at number 4?
How outdated is this thing?

[Done_And_Done]

Who's Christiano Ronaldo? :confusedshrug:

Famous figure skater. He's dope...

[fragokota]

Kaka at number 4?
How outdated is this thing?

Brazil is a big ass country. Not a coincidence that 3/6 most popular are Brazilians.

[Done_And_Done]

Is Maria Sharapova not the most overrated female in the world, looks wise. She's a good looking woman but nothing to drool over. Never understood the hoopla over her.

Eugenie on the other hand...

[Done_And_Done]

Brazil is a big ass country. Not a coincidence that 3/6 most popular are Brazilians.

Oh no doubt, and they idolize these footy players like the second coming. It's just faintly surprising how a guy who hasn't been relevant in years on the pitch still holds such a high rank. It makes sense though...

[Hey Yo]

Kaka at number 4?
How outdated is this thing?
Kaka? Isn't that a toned down word that has the same meaning as the word shit?

[plowking]

Kaka? Isn't that a toned down word that has the same meaning as the word shit?

It is also used to describe Kobe this season.

Funnily enough OP, Lebron is also now the 7th best player in the NBA. Funny how the stars align.

[edrick]

I'm surprised the entire thing isn't full of soccer players.

[J Shuttlesworth]

Of course he's the most popular basketball player. Dude is a diva that shows up to big events, even goes to other team's games and makes stupid quotes in the media. Dude was slobbering on Odell Beckham and wanted to have dinner with him because he knew it was going to be written about by everyone after he made the catch. Wouldn't be surprised if he volunteered to be in Johnny Football's entourage during the off-season because it will keep him in the limelight. He is the Kim Kardashian of athletes. He has more talent than her though, because her sex tape was shit :oldlol:
Lmao this dude us legitimately breaking down because LeBron is popular

[Nash]

Oh no doubt, and they idolize these footy players like the second coming. It's just faintly surprising how a guy who hasn't been relevant in years on the pitch still holds such a high rank. It makes sense though...
Kaka has built up a huge following from his peak days. His peak was around 2006 when the whole facebook era started.

[GrapeApe]

I'll never understand soccer's global popularity. I've made a genuine effort to follow and learn about the game, but I just can't get into it.

[imdaman99]

Lmao this dude us legitimately breaking down because LeBron is popular
No, I just want him to leave my boy ODB alone. Find someone else to attention whore off, bran.

It's no surprise low IQ shuttlesworth is a branstan though. That insecurity is strong amongst his stans, so easy to hit a nerve :lol

[edrick]

I'll never understand soccer's global popularity. I've made a genuine effort to follow and learn about the game, but I just can't get into it.

I don't understand the appeal of people watching it, but it is definitely fun to play.

[kennethgriffin]

i'm pretty sure kobe is more popular world wide. hes a god in china. and allot of them are too poor to afford a computer

plus kobe was late to the facebook/twitter game. he didnt make an official account until like 2012

[plowking]

i'm pretty sure kobe is more popular world wide. hes a god in china. and allot of them are too poor to afford a computer

plus kobe was late to the facebook/twitter game. he didnt make an official account until like 2012

Sure. Okay. Noted.

People with computers like Lebron better. Only reasonable conclusion we can come to.

[Uncle Drew]

Sure. Okay. Noted.

People with computers like Lebron better. Only reasonable conclusion we can come to.
:oldlol:

[moaz]

I don't understand the appeal of people watching it, but it is definitely fun to play.

That is the reason no American who hasn't lived for an extended period of time in, lets say, anywhere else in the world outside of US/Canada, will ever understand soccer.

People don't just watch soccer. The live soccer if they are in it, they grow up with it, everyone plays it as a child (tall, short, fat, thin, good, bad) for at least a period of time. Fathers, uncles, cousins, friends classmates usually play/has played too. And after the recognize that they suck in soccer, they still can sit with friends and discuss/watch games
They'll be sucked into being fans of at least one local team, one international team (+ a favorite team from every major European league) and even the not interested will support the National Team of their country.

This pattern may be not that strong in (North) Western Europe in the last years, but everywhere else in the world it is still dominant.

[fragokota]

I'll never understand soccer's global popularity. I've made a genuine effort to follow and learn about the game, but I just can't get into it.

It's unpredictable and often enough not the best team wins. In every other team sport, pretty much most of the times the best team wins. Not so in football, it may sound bizarre and unfair, but it makes it very interesting that you never know what upset every game may bring. It's more easy for the David to win the Goliath team than say basketball.

[imdaman99]

Is Maria Sharapova not the most overrated female in the world, looks wise. She's a good looking woman but nothing to drool over. Never understood the hoopla over her.

Eugenie on the other hand...
Sharapova is very much overrated. I can't watch any of her matches either because she shrieks like a banshee. She is nice looking, but hardly anywhere nearly as attractive as Anna Kournikova was. And it's not as if she is some dominant winner, she is Serena's btch.

[Genaro]

There's washed up or retired players on the list because you don't just unfollow a player you like just because he gone old.


Kaka? Isn't that a toned down word that has the same meaning as the word shit?
No. Caca (pronounced Kaka) means shit but Kak

[JohnMax]

Notice beautiful people are liked more

Ronaldo is ranked above Messi and Beckham above Ronaldinho

[jzek]

Kaka at number 4?
How outdated is this thing?

Kaka is only 31 years old and was on the Brazilian national team (!!!!!) that played Japan a month or so ago so, yes, he's still very relevant and popular (just not in the US because we don't pay attention to soccer here).

[pauk]

Soccer......... :facepalm

[pauk]

I'll never understand soccer's global popularity. I've made a genuine effort to follow and learn about the game, but I just can't get into it.

Very nice, stay away, soccer is the most overrated sport in human history, midgets just jogging/walking around and passing & flopping entire game..... occasional goal or two, which most often happened by luck.... and this comes from a Euro.

[moaz]

Soccer......... :facepalm


http://www.targetmap.com/ThumbnailsReports/13258_THUMB_IPAD.jpg

That big blue area north of the Us may also join green in the future (but it ill take at least another generation):

There are around 750k registered soccer players in Canada and around 500k hokey players

[fragokota]

Very nice, stay away, soccer is the most overrated sport in human history, midgets just jogging/walking around and passing & flopping entire game..... occasional goal or two, which most often happened by luck.... and this comes from a Euro.

Jesus, and to think you have had guys like Boban, Prosinecki and Suker...

[Megabox!]

Of course he's the most popular basketball player. Dude is a diva that shows up to big events, even goes to other team's games and makes stupid quotes in the media. Dude was slobbering on Odell Beckham and wanted to have dinner with him because he knew it was going to be written about by everyone after he made the catch. Wouldn't be surprised if he volunteered to be in Johnny Football's entourage during the off-season because it will keep him in the limelight. He is the Kim Kardashian of athletes. He has more talent than her though, because her sex tape was shit :oldlol:
:kobe:

[Nash]

Very nice, stay away, soccer is the most overrated sport in human history, midgets just jogging/walking around and passing & flopping entire game..... occasional goal or two, which most often happened by luck.... and this comes from a Euro.
as if they don't flop in basketball.
Midgets? It's regular sized people.

[riseagainst]

Very nice, stay away, soccer is the most overrated sport in human history, midgets just jogging/walking around and passing & flopping entire game..... occasional goal or two, which most often happened by luck.... and this comes from a Euro.


:hammerhead:

[kNIOKAS]

Sachin Tendulkar (Listeni/ˌsətʃɪn tɛnˈduːlkər/; born 24 April 1973) is a former Indian cricketer widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article102353.ece/binary/sachin-tendulkar-sifr-651867782.jpg
http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive/pix/sitepix/11_2013/hemant-soren-welcomes-bharat-ratna-for-sachin-tendulkar_191113010522.jpg

http://media3.giphy.com/media/5bo8XMq0GROw0/giphy.gif

[Psileas]

http://www.targetmap.com/ThumbnailsReports/13258_THUMB_IPAD.jpg

That big blue area north of the Us may also join green in the future (but it ill take at least another generation):

There are around 750k registered soccer players in Canada and around 500k hokey players

What criteria were taken into account to find the most popular sport? I've also seen basketball being called the most popular sport in China and badminton the most popular sport in Indonesia.

[Le Shaqtus]

Who the f*ck is Sachin Tendulkar

[moaz]

What criteria were taken into account to find the most popular sport? I've also seen basketball being called the most popular sport in China and badminton the most popular sport in Indonesia.

Don't believe everything you read; I've also found a page (http://mostpopularsports.net/basketball-popularity) stating this:


Basketball is the most popular sport in 14 countries, with a combined population of more than 1829600000.
The countries are:
China
Philippines
Turkey
France
Italy
South Korea
Spain
Argentina
Taiwan
Israel
Hong Kong
Puerto Rico
Lithuania
Latvia
It is not. We still live in the Yao era, which culminated in the US/China match in the 2008 Olympics. If no other Yao comes in the next few years, the hype will end. To compare: The Chinese Basketball Association was established in 1995 and in 2004 it expanded to 12 teams. The current Chinese Soccer Association was founded in 1949. Soccer is one of the most popular amateur team sports in China. I would say that ping pong is probably the main sport their.

Badminton is Indonesia's most successful sport, but not all of the country's 6000 inhabited islands have the facilities to practice high level Badminton. Soccer remains the most popular sport (google it).

[pastis]

Very nice, stay away, soccer is the most overrated sport in human history, midgets just jogging/walking around and passing & flopping entire game..... occasional goal or two, which most often happened by luck.... and this comes from a Euro.

here in germany we just cant understand how anyody would play and especially watch sports like BASEBALL or AMERICAN FOOTBALL. They just cant believe it that someone watches these sports of his own will, for fun. A sports where in a 2 hour game you have 10 min of action (in the us you would say, because of "tactics") or regarding the other sport, watching a handfull of people running behind a ball in a square-esque field and catching it so they can throw it back to someone else, before someone of the enemy-team arrives at the base.

:facepalm :facepalm

[moaz]

Who the f*ck is Sachin Tendulkar
some retired cricket player. He was/was so popular, that even I (not a cricket fan, the only sport where I understand nothing) heard about him when few years ago one fan committed suicide when he didn't break a record.

[Psileas]

Don't believe everything you read; I've also found a page (http://mostpopularsports.net/basketball-popularity) stating this:


It is not. We still live in the Yao era, which culminated in the US/China match in the 2008 Olympics. If no other Yao comes in the next few years, the hype will end. To compare: The Chinese Basketball Association was established in 1995 and in 2004 it expanded to 12 teams. The current Chinese Soccer Association was founded in 1949. Soccer is one of the most popular amateur team sports in China. I would say that ping pong is probably the main sport their.

Badminton is Indonesia's most successful sport, but not all of the country's 6000 inhabited islands have the facilities to practice high level Badminton. Soccer remains the most popular sport (google it).

Obviously I don't believe everything I read, which is why I questioned a few choices on the map. Including the criteria that were used for the project.
I'm not going to hold (or accept, unless proven otherwise) a strong opinion about what the most popular sport in China is, but:
CBA vs CSA is not a valid comparison, since basketball has had a much longer history in China than the CBA and had been popular way before both the CBA and Yao's emergence:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/from-mao-zedong-to-jeremy-lin-why-basketball-is-chinas-biggest-sport/253427/

Also, have a look at this article, in which, Wilt Chamberlain was considered among the 3 most popular foreign athletes in China back in 1978, after having been retired for 5 years already:
http://www.thetallestman.com/images/mutiezhu/mutiezhu%20(16).jpg

Googling Indonesia doesn't return clear results, either:

https://www.google.gr/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=0DaGVOPCOI3BcMTmgOgP#safe=off&q=most+popular+sport+in+indonesia

Some mention badminton before football, some claim that football is arguably the most popular sport and others mention these 2 sports as the most popular, implying that they are close. Which obviously such a map doesn't care about.

[kennethgriffin]

http://www.targetmap.com/ThumbnailsReports/13258_THUMB_IPAD.jpg

That big blue area north of the Us may also join green in the future (but it ill take at least another generation):

There are around 750k registered soccer players in Canada and around 500k hokey players


youre pretty dumb

registered? LOL

i dont know a single person that plays soccer and i live in ottawa

that shits for 5 year olds

[Collie]

I'll never understand soccer's global popularity. I've made a genuine effort to follow and learn about the game, but I just can't get into it.

I did and felt the same with American football.

[kamil]

Remove the female followers of Ronaldo and he drops out completely from that graph.

[CavaliersFTW]

Facebook and twitter have marketing farm accounts that all of these athletes surely use. Every day in malaysia and india people who are payed a penny per-"like" create accounts and follow these guys pages. It means that none of that shit is a valid statistic or measurement of popularity. Certain athletes can pay for more likes than others. The athletes themselves don't actually pay to have people do this, they pay for a marketing team. The teams are part of organizations that fund these likes, because the likes generate revenue by creating the illusion of mass popularity. People are sheep, they see 3 identical accounts, one with 114 followers, one with 1,140, another with 1.14 million which are they most likely to follow/like?

[ArbitraryWater]

Very nice, stay away, soccer is the most overrated sport in human history, midgets just jogging/walking around and passing & flopping entire game..... occasional goal or two, which most often happened by luck.... and this comes from a Euro.

Did a football team reject you at an early age or something?

Lmao..

--

Ronaldo ruling the world :oldlol:

[kamil]

youre pretty dumb

registered? LOL

i dont know a single person that plays soccer and i live in ottawa

that shits for 5 year olds

There's a lot of people that play football (soccer for the ignorant north americans) in Canada... but nowhere fvcking near the number of people that play hockey.

Canadians are actually really insecure about football. Mention you're watching the World Cup and they get all defensive and sour about it 'Ewwww, soccer?'

Why? Because they can't handle a bit of coverage of the sport once every 4 years for a couple months OUT of the NHL season. Hockey in Canada takes up like 75% of all sports coverage. Ie; last seasons NBA All Star game was cut short of the MVP Award Ceremony in favour of some coach talking about some drama in hockey at the olympics.

That's how bad it is there with Hockey.

[kennethgriffin]

There's a lot of people that play football (soccer for the ignorant north americans) in Canada... but nowhere fvcking near the number of people that play hockey.

Canadians are actually really insecure about football. Mention you're watching the World Cup and they get all defensive and sour about it 'Ewwww, soccer?'

Why? Because they can't handle a bit of coverage of the sport once every 4 years for a couple months OUT of the NHL season. Hockey in Canada takes up like 75% of all sports coverage. Ie; last seasons NBA All Star game was cut short of the MVP Award Ceremony in favour of some coach talking about some drama in hockey at the olympics.

That's how bad it is there with Hockey.


we call it soccer because america ( canada/the united states ) already have a sport called football. its not because we're ignorant. its because thats what its called to make it more distinguishable


and about the world cup thing. canada loves that tourny. it gets a load of coverage and support from people.. its more of a love for nationality/heritage than soccer though. people back the countries their ancestors are from

[red1]

Remove the female followers of Ronaldo and he drops out completely from that graph.
way off

[kamil]

way off

Only fans of Ronaldo I know of are either Portuguese (not many of them around anyway) or women (plenty of those though).

[Sportal]

This is a bit of a lame attempt to smash LeBron, is it? Or is it sarcasm.. Either way, I truly wonder how long ago this graph is from... But obviously, when you are at your peak in football/soccer, you have a lot more fans than any basketball player could ever reach. Kaka and Ronaldhino haven't been Ballon d'Or material for years (most prestigious individual award in Soccer), but they were most definitely on the top percential of players.

I would guess that this graph is from 2009? Although people don't really unfollow/unlike people.

[yarrak]

we call it soccer because america ( canada/the united states ) already have a sport called football. its not because we're ignorant. its because thats what its called to make it more distinguishable


and about the world cup thing. canada loves that tourny. it gets a load of coverage and support from people.. its more of a love for nationality/heritage than soccer though. people back the countries their ancestors are from


You call it football yet you play it with hands %90 of the time... Never understood why it's called football.

[kamil]

You call it football yet you play it with hands %90 of the time... Never understood why it's called football.

According to wikipedia:

The word "soccer" originated as an Oxford "-er" slang abbreviation of "association", and is credited to late nineteenth century English footballer, Charles Wreford-Brown.[8] However, like the William Webb Ellis rugby story, it is believed to be most likely apocryphal.[9] There is also the sometimes-heard variation, "soccer football".

Basically, it's done out of stupidity.

[WallIn]

Kaka is no way the 4th most popular athlete, he's like 7 years past his prime. These stats are pretty much bollocks.

[WallIn]

^

And even then it wasn't like he was doing some extraordinary things like Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi now.

[Bless Mathews]

What's that black and white ball?

[kamil]

What's that black and white ball?

It's not used to play Handegg!

[Bless Mathews]

It's not used to play Handegg!


What's handegg?

[Nowitness]

^

And even then it wasn't like he was doing some extraordinary things like Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi now.

But he does have Brazil backing him. He use to be a beast though, but I wouldn't even expect him to be top 50 nowadays.

[Andrei89]

Facebook and twitter have marketing farm accounts that all of these athletes surely use. Every day in malaysia and india people who are payed a penny per-"like" create accounts and follow these guys pages. It means that none of that shit is a valid statistic or measurement of popularity. Certain athletes can pay for more likes than others. The athletes themselves don't actually pay to have people do this, they pay for a marketing team. The teams are part of organizations that fund these likes, because the likes generate revenue by creating the illusion of mass popularity. People are sheep, they see 3 identical accounts, one with 114 followers, one with 1,140, another with 1.14 million which are they most likely to follow/like?

Your theory does not explain how Kaka is in there. I am sure he stopped giving a shit about marketing, so did Ronaldinho.

Furthermore, the list is quite accurate. Those are the most popular athletes.

[Joyner82reload]

Taking all things into consideration, Ronaldo is by far the most envied athlete in the history of professional sports. Of course he will be on the top of this list for a multitude of reasons.

[rmt]

This must be the younger fans. Federer is much more popular worldwide than Nadal.

[Sumter15]

Nadal more popular than Federer? No way.

[WallIn]

Nadal more popular than Federer? No way.

Yeah Federer has way more fans worldwide than Nadal I can guarrantee that. Mainly due to his style of play, and dominance of course. Not playing like in his old days but still gets it done, 2nd in the tennis rankings.

[B-hoop]

Kaka was the last big football star from Brazil before Neymar, also he is not bad looking so he probably has a lot of female fans who dont really follow soccer. Anyway, Brazil's pop. is almost half of the US so he probably has a following in Italy too where he played for Milan.

[booonkers]

Yeah this isn't accurate, the reason Nadal is ahead of Federer on social media is cos Federer just joined Twitter about a year ago whereas Nadal has been on Twitter for years now. Just check out endorsement earnings and you'll see Federer is ahead by a lot even when he's past his prime.

[kennethgriffin]

You call it football yet you play it with hands %90 of the time... Never understood why it's called football.


No.. I call it football because thats what they named it before I was born

What am I gonna do. Start calling it passball? Then I'l look like a f*cking idiot

Who knows why they call it hockey. For all we know theres a country that calls it ice puck

Then theyre laughing at us. But why? It doesnt ****ing matter

go back to wherever its called football and leave us the **** alone. You dont see america or canada demanding others call it soccer. We dont give 2 ****s you call it football. Know why? Cause we're not nosey f*ggots

[Andrew Wiggins]

neither of those are available in china though. put in the chinese equivalents of those and lebron and kobe would skyrocket

[Angel Face]

Damn, Jordan retired over a decade ago, still in the top list. Imagine prime MJ playing today. Dude will have billion fans. :bowdown: