How Ronaldo’s shirtless snaps, personalised duvet covers and bling furniture won over social media.
Can half a BILLION people be wrong? How Ronaldo turned one in every 15 people on the planet into online followers by plugging his personalised aftershave and picture-perfect family (and that VERY chiseled body)
- Juventus ace boasts 261million followers on Instagram, 148m on Facebook and 91m on Twitter
- Girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez also has rapidly expanding social media platform
- Ronaldo’s Instagram page is littered with topless snaps, celebratory moments and sweet family pics
Moody topless selfies, sweet family portraits and the odd game day shot have certainly proved a winning formula for footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who now boasts a staggering half a billion followers on social media.
On Instagram, where he has 261 million followers, the Portuguese player is one of the most followed people in the world. On Facebook, his page has almost 125 million likes and about 147 million followers while on Twitter, there are 91 million people following him. Even on YouTube, with a channel that has been dormant for four years, he exceeds a million.
According to Forbes, Ronaldo has the second-highest income from Instagram-related revenue at £16.8million per year, with each almost-daily post continually racking up millions of likes. In January 2020, they estimated he nets £721,805 per post.
As well as his lauded prowess on the pitch, the father-of-four, who celebrated his 36th birthday last week, keeps fans entertained online with regular posts showing off his luxury lifestyle and family time with girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez.
The couple are parents to daughter Alana Martina, three, while Ronaldo is father to another three children – twins, Eva and Mateo, three, born via surrogacy in the US, and his eldest child Cristiano Jr, 10, whose mother intriguingly has never been revealed.
Moody topless selfies, sweet family portraits and the odd game day shot have certainly proved a winning formula for footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who now boasts a staggering half a billion followers on social media (pictured on poolside of his Italian mansion)
As well as his lauded prowess on the pitch, the father-of-four, who celebrated his 36th birthday last week, keeps fans entertained online with photos of his life (pictured with his family at New Year)
Ronaldo shares regular posts showing off his luxury lifestyle and girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez (pictured)
Having been named the best player in the world five times, naturally many of his followers are football fans, but his appeal stretches way beyond the pitch.
Millions are attracted by his tanned, chiseled physique, which he regularly flaunts on exotic holidays abroad, sunbathing in his garden or sat on his driveway leaning against a super car – one of the 15 or so he owns.
That particular picture, which Ronaldo captioned ‘You choose the view’, attracted 13,128,094 likes.
Eagle-eyed fans will have spotted that the car supporting the player’s toned torso bears his trademark CR7 – his initials teamed with the number on his football shirt.
Many are attracted by his tanned, chiseled physique, which he regularly flaunts on exotic holidays abroad, sunbathing in his garden or sat on his driveway leaning against a super car – one of the 15 or so he owns (pictured). Eagle-eyed fans will have spotted that the car supporting the player’s toned torso bears his trademark CR7
Ronaldo is a branding machine; his sponsorship and endorsement deals aside, he has cultivated his own (pictured with his cologne)
Ronaldo even owns his own hotels – one is the 48-room luxury Pestana CR7, on the island of Madeira, in his hometown of Funchal, and another is in the capital Lisbon
Ronaldo is a branding machine; his sponsorship and endorsement deals aside, he has cultivated his own.
CR7 started out as a range of underwear but has since expanded into footwear, eyewear, sportswear, a children’s range (often modelled by his eldest son Cristiano Jr) and cologne.
Ronaldo even owns his own hotels – one is the 48-room luxury Pestana CR7, on the island of Madeira in his hometown of Funchal, and another is in the capital Lisbon.
The player takes full advantage of his millions of followers to plug his merchandise, regularly posing beside a bottle of his latest scent with captions like: ‘When I smell great, I feel great!’
The not-so-humble sportsman even goes overboard when it comes to the personal touch in his own home, snuggling down at night under a blanket emblazoned with his initials
Ronaldo and Georgina are parents to daughter Alana Martina, three, while Ronaldo is father to another three children – twins, Eva and Mateo, three, born via surrogacy in the US, and his eldest child Cristiano Jr, 10, whose mother intriguingly has never been revealed
In many of his topless shots (which also garner millions of likes), the elasticated band of his boxers are emblazoned with his name.
The not-so-humble sportsman even goes overboard when it comes to the personal touch in his own home, snuggling down at night under a blanket emblazoned with his initials, and relaxing on a sofa scattered with cushions bearing his and girlfriend Georgia’s initials.
Ronaldo bought the building that became his home in Funchal in 2015 from local designer Nini Andrade Silva for an undisclosed amount, and spent £7million renovating it into his dream property.
When the work was completed in 2019, Ronaldo moved in with his mother and brother Hugo, who also manages Ronaldo’s nearby CR7 museum.
Ronaldo also has his own unique sense of style, often posing in loud shirts, brightly coloured suits and super-tight trunks
Since dating the soccer star, Georgina has also amassed a rapid fanbase – with 24 million followers, she is one of the fastest growing accounts online (pictured with Ronaldo and his brood)
He and Georgina have spent much of lockdown at the pad, as well as Ronaldo’s Italian mansion when he was playing football, which has a stunning indoor pool clad in monochrome marble and a gym – the perfect spot for yet more topless selfies.
Much like in his previous Madrid home, portraits of the soccer star grace many of the walls. Ronaldo is certainly not shy of his success.
He also has his own unique sense of style, often posing in loud shirts, brightly coloured suits and super-tight trunks.
Since dating the soccer star, Georgina has amassed a rapid fanbase herself – with 24 million followers, she is one of the fastest growing accounts online.
She provides an injection of female glamour to Ronaldo’s social platform, and their cosy couple shots and cuddly family portraits with twins Eva Maria and Mateo, Alana and Cristiano Jr usually attract a swathe of heart emojis from fans.
Ronaldo takes full advantage of his millions of followers to plug his merchandise (pictured wearing his line of underwear)
Cristiano Ronaldo, pictured with girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez on a recent ski trip, reached 500million followers across the major platforms of social media
Georgina and Ronaldo famously met while she was working as a retail assistant in Madrid, as they caught eyes across the rails in Gucci in 2016.
Last year, she admitted that the meeting with the Juventus star saw her ‘fall in love at first sight’. She claimed in an interview with Italy’s Elle magazine that the feeling was mutual following their encounter.
Georgina said: ‘The first meeting with Ronaldo was at Gucci where I worked as a sales assistant. Days later we saw each other again at another brand’s event.
‘It was then we could talk in a relaxed atmosphere, outside of my work environment. It was love at first sight for both.’
Ronaldo celebrated his 36th birthday last week – as well as his 20th year as a professional footballer (pictured with Georgina and the children)
Last year Georgina sparked speculation that she’d tied the knot with her beau when she referred to him as her ‘husband’ in a gushing post celebrating her 26th birthday.
Sharing a snapshot of herself and Ronaldo posing with the children, Georgina wrote: ‘Happy 26 for me, very happy. I can’t ask life more. Just a lot of health for my family and me and to always enjoy them.
‘Thank you all for your congratulations, flowers and therefore love. And Thank you to my husband for giving me the best of life, our children. I love you.’
In Spanish, ‘marido’ is often used to describe a common law husband, while ‘esposo’ is more commonly employed as a description for a legally wed male.
When contacted by MailOnline, representatives for Ronaldo declined to comment.
Ronaldo is happy in Italy and enjoys the lifestyle he has in the country. Pictured on holiday in the summer
Ronaldo’s current deal with Juventus expires in June 2022. The Italian giants are willing to pay a very high salary but, amid the Covid-19 outbreak, cannot guarantee the renewal at the current rate of 31 million euros.
But Ronaldo is happy in Italy and enjoys the lifestyle he has in the country. In winter he often goes to the mountains of the Aosta Valley to ski and in summer he travels the world with the yacht purchased by the Viareggio shipyard.
In the three years Ronaldo has been at Juventus, president Andrea Agnelli has increased the value of revenues by around 15 per cent, which works out as around 130 million euros (£114m) that the club can use to adjust its own financial accounts.
The best way for Juventus to try and overcome the ongoing economic crisis is by clinging to Ronaldo, the best sponsor in the world.
Agnelli and Ronaldo have a solid friendship that has lasted for many years and the player’s idea is to continue with Juventus and then return to Lisbon before his definitive retirement from football.
