Turkish talent has more fans than Ronaldo and Mbappe

19-year-old Arda Guler has attracted more new Instagram followers than Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe since Euro 2024 kicked off.

According to Apuestas Deportivas , from June 13 – the day before Euro 2024 opened – to after the group stage ended on June 27, Guler attracted 1,093,669 followers on Instagram , the highest increase among players participating in the tournament. Guler currently has more than 10 million followers, and will continue to increase sharply if he shines when Türkiye meets Austria in the eighth round on July 2.

Guler played in all three group stage matches, and scored a superb goal in the opening match, winning 3-1 against Georgia . At 19 years and 114 days old, Guler became the youngest Turkish player to score at the Euros, and the youngest player to score on his debut at the Euros, breaking Ronaldo’s record.

 

Guler scores the second goal in Turkey’s 3-1 win over Georgia in their opening match at Euro 2024. Photo: Guardian

In the summer of 2023, Guler , dubbed the “Turkish Messi”, moved to Real from Fenerbahce for $22 million, plus $11 million in performance-related fees. Last season, due to injury, Guler played only 12 matches, scoring six goals in all competitions.

Ronaldo ranked second, attracting 996,661 new followers on Instagram in the past two weeks. However, the Portuguese striker is still the most followed person on this social network, with 632 million.

Ronaldo is still the biggest target of fan harassment from the hotel, training ground to the competition field at Euro 2024. At least six fans jumped into Westfalen to try to reach the 39-year-old striker, causing the Portuguese match. The team’s 3-0 win over Turkey on June 22 was interrupted four times .

A crazy fan ran onto the field and pulled Ronaldo in by his neck to take a photo with them during Portugal’s victory over Turkey in round two of Group F Euro 2024. Photo: AFP

After Portugal lost 0-2 to Georgia, a fan even jumped from the stands at a height of about 3 meters to approach Ronaldo. A security guard reacted very quickly, rushing from behind to block Ronaldo’s face, preventing a dangerous accident from happening.

Behind Guler and Ronaldo in Apuestas Deportivas ‘ statistics are Jude Bellingham (725,529 new followers), Kylian Mbappe (706,332), Lamine Yamal (653,928), Riccardo Calafiori (404,544), Kenan Yildiz (373,554), Florian Wirtz (335,738), Toni Kroos (293,138) and Jamal Musiala (282,731).

Meanwhile, stars like Robert Lewandowski , Frenkie De Jong and Steven Bergwijn have lost tens of thousands of followers since Euro 2024 began. Among them, De Jong was not called up by the Netherlands due to injury, while Lewandowski and the Polish team were eliminated early.