Who has sold more jerseys between Messi and Ronaldo?

While waiting to see them play against each other, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are, as always, the protagonists of a challenge that goes beyond the field and touches the sphere of merchandising: who has sold the most jerseys. According to what was reported by lovethesales, the challenge between the two titans was won by the Portuguese, bringing 219 million euros to United's coffers, another record that is added to the already large list. The Argentine champion has not been outdone, however, in a stellar team that sells itself an already high amount of shirts, given the presence of Mbappe and Neymar, Messi has entered the coffers of PSG about 120 million euros. The sales of the "Ronaldo 7" shirts of Manchester United have broken the record for the fastest sale in the history of the Premier League, something never seen before, not even at his arrival in Italy when, as indicated in the ranking compiled by the consulting firm Euromericas Sport Marketing, managed to sell a million shirts in a whole year but not so many in a single day. 

The fever of the soccer market has infected especially the fans who, as soon as they heard of the arrival, did not miss the opportunity to buy the shirts of the two stars. It could not be otherwise, both the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, the city where he has established himself as a footballer, and the arrival of Messi at Paris, a team now comparable in blazon and importance of the players to the Galácticos of the early 2000s. But the challenge was not only limited to the number of shirts sold, but also to the growth of club accounts. It was 2018 when Cristiano Ronaldo landed at Juventus and with him he brought with him not only goals and champion plays but also a million more followers on Instagram for Juventus. Three years later the Ronaldo effect is repeated, the Manchester United account since the day of the announcement has grown by 3,709,120 followers, with an average of 618 thousand more followers per day. The Argentine is also not outdone here, his engagement has generated a social growth of 6,847,366 followers, going from 38 million to the current 49 million if we extend the period of analysis from August 10 to August 31.

This data underscores another very important thing, the orientation of fans, who are increasingly more interested in the affairs of individual players than those of clubs. In today's soccer there are more and more users who follow any team just to access content featuring their favorite player and not because they are connected to that club. Social and merchandising data are a perfect example of this, perfectly explaining how a player can be a valuable asset for a club, especially those where the content production and merchandising structure is highly developed.