FIFA World Cup 2022™: The essential sports data hub

FIFA World Cup 2022TM: The essential data hub

Welcome to Nielsen’s essential data hub for the FIFA World Cup 2022™. We’ll keep you updated on the predictions, standings, sponsorship trends, fan insights and our perspective on it all.

Follow along as we track the intel you need—on and off the field.

2022 predictions
Influencer standings
World rankings
Road to 2026
Insights

2022 Predictions

Forecasts for who will advance and win World Cup Qatar

Gracenote’s 2022 World Cup predictions bracket

See our forecast for who will win

Round of 16

Quarter Final

Semi Final

Final

Semi Final

Quarter Final

Round of 16

New Hampshire

Predictions are based on over one million simulations that produce estimates showing the most likely team to fill each position in the knockout stages. During the 2022 World Cup, the simulation will be run after each day’s results to produce a new forecast which takes account of the latest information. The new forecast will be uploaded daily to this hub.

World Cup 2022 round predictions powered by Gracenote

See which teams are most likely to advance.

2022 World Rankings

The top influencers and current standings of the men's national teams

The World Cup’s most powerful players and teams on Instagram

These players consistently score the most views and engagement. The change in the world ranking is compared to the beginning of 2022.

Rank	Player Name	Country	Club	Instagram handle	Followers	Follower growth	Engagement rate	Average media value of branded posts (USD)
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Al-Nassr	@cristiano	398.2M	36.92%	1.99%	$3,699,128
2	Leo Messi	Argentina	PSG	@leomessi	518.8M	36.23%	2.28%	$3,249,346
3	Neymar	Brazil	PSG	@neymarjr	196.4M	17.41%	1.82%	$1,378,069
4	Kylian Mbappé	France	PSG	@k.mbappe	82.9M	29.63%	3.92%	$1,178,442
5	Viní Jr.	Brazil	Real Madrid	@vinijr	27.8M	109.43%	9.24%	$786,532
6	Gavi	Spain	FC Barcelona	@pablogavi	12.1M	754.09%	26.76%	$751,014
7	Karim Benzema	France	Real Madrid	@karimbenzema	62.5M	42.29%	2.96%	$653,493
8	Paulo Dybala	Argentina	AS Roma	@paulodybala	51.5M	14.46%	2.96%	$591,972
9	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	FC Barcelona	@_rl9	31.7M	37.68%	3.11%	$353,943
10	Eden Hazard	Belgium	Real Madrid	@hazardeden_10	27.2M	1.63%	3.70%	$413,457

Rankings are based on Nielsen's influencer measurement tool InfluenceScope. We focused on Instagram measurement since it is the platform used by the greatest number of athletes across generations. "The 10 most influential footballers" data is from December 2021-December 2022. The data presented in "The biggest breakthrough players" and "The most popular team accounts" tables reflect growth and engagement during the tournament, November 14-December 18, 2022. Rankings include athletes participating in the 2022 World Cup.

These footballers saw a big growth surge on social media.

Rank	Player Name	Country	Club	Instagram Handle	Followers	Follower growth	Engagement rate	Average media value of branded posts (USD)
1	Leo Messi	Argentina	PSG	@leomessi	398.2M	6.73%	4.30%	$6,855,288
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Al-Nassr	@cristiano	518.8M	4.50%	3.19%	$6,683,350
3	Richarlison	Brazil	Tottenham Hotspur	@richarlison	19.6M	178.72%	26.89%	$1,475,597
4	Neymar	Brazil	PSG	@neymarjr	196.4M	8%	4.89%	$3,849,546
5	Gue Sung Cho	Korea Republic	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	@whrbtjd	2.9M	9349.75%	224.36%	$1,339,391
6	Kylian Mbappé	France	PSG	@k.mbappe	82.9M	13.10%	7.57%	$2,446,623
7	Enzo Fernández	Argentina	Benfica	@enzojfernandez	4M	383.47%	51.88%	$518,526
8	Zakaria Aboukhlal	Morocco	Toulouse	@zakariaaboukhlal	2.4M	352.53%	41.12%	$257,158
9	Sofyan Amrabat	Morocco	Fiorentina	@sofyanamrabat	2.7M	290.31%	20.79%	$146,538
10	Yassine Bounou	Morocco	Sevilla	@bounouyassine_bono	4.9M	154.03%	51.11%	$714,660

These teams have the most avid Instagram followers from around the world.

Rank	Country	Country	Instagram Handle	Followers	Follower growth %	Engagement rate	% of fans outside home countryn
1	Brazil	Brazil	@cbf_futebol	15.8M	25.12%	4.65%	35.49%
2	France	France	@equipedefrance	13.4M	10.66%	2.97%	64.70%
3	Portugal	Portugal	@portugal	12.7M	16.50%	2.82%	86.30%
4	Argentina	Argentina	@afaseleccion	10.6M	34.50%	8.27%	54.19%
5	England	England	@england	9.2M	6.08%	1.47%	79.40%
6	Mexico	Mexico	@miseleccionmx	6.5M	6.96%	2.02%	47.31%
7	Germany	Germany	@dfb_team	5.3M	3.61%	2.23%	72.78%
8	Spain	Spain	@sefutbol	4.7M	11.56%	3.01%	75.83%
9	Morocco	Morocco	@equipedumaroc	3.2M	78.37%	9.44%	34.36%
10	Netherlands	Netherlands	@onsoranje	1.7M	13.01%	4.57%	73.49%

A men has raised both hands and hoped for win

Men’s World Ranking powered by Gracenote

See the men’s national team standings.

Last Updated

The Gracenote World Football Ranking is a proprietary methodology created in 2002 and based on the Elo system used for ranking chess players. Every time two teams compete, one wins points from the other depending on the result, the winning margin, who is at home and the relative strength of the two teams playing, and the importance of the competition.

The Road to 2026

Looking ahead to the 2026 North American World Cup

Insights into North American football fandom

See how fans from the 2026 World Cup host nations compare.

Insights

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2022 Predictions

Forecasts for who will advance and win World Cup Qatar