Sure, let’s make this simple and easy to understand for everyone, even kids!
Cristiano Ronaldo, a very famous football player from Portugal, has done something amazing. Earlier this month, he scored his 900th career goal, which is a big deal for any football player.
But this week, he did something even more special. Ronaldo, who is 39 years old and plays for a team called Al-Nassr, now has 1 billion followers on social media! That means a lot of people all around the world follow him on places like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Ronaldo was so happy about this that he shared it on his new YouTube channel. He even showed his followers growing in real-time. His YouTube channel became popular very fast, getting 15 million subscribers on the first day and 50 million in a week. Now, it has more than 60 million subscribers.
To celebrate, Ronaldo said, “We did it — 1 BILLION followers! This is more than just a number – it shows how much we all love football and each other. From the small streets of Madeira to the big football stadiums, I’ve always played for my family and for you, and now 1 billion of us are together.
“You’ve been with me when things were good and when they were hard. This journey is our journey, and together, we’ve shown that we can do anything. Thank you for believing in me, supporting me, and being part of my life. The best is yet to come, and we’ll keep winning and making history together.”
What to know
Most of Ronaldo’s followers are on Instagram: 639 million people follow him there! That’s like 8 out of every 100 people in the world. His other social media accounts also have lots of followers. He has 170.5 million on Facebook, 113 million on a platform called X (formerly Twitter), and nearly 10 million on Chinese platforms Weibo and Kuaishou.
His football buddy Lionel Messi is the only other player with more than 500 million followers. Behind them, American stars like Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have 424 million, 397 million, and 395 million followers on Instagram, respectively. For example, the total number of followers for all 2024 NBA All-Star players is still less than Ronaldo’s Instagram followers alone!
Ronaldo’s popularity keeps growing, both online and on the football field. He’s now starting his third season with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he signed a big deal in 2023 that pays him $215 million just for playing football.
Besides his football salary, Ronaldo made $60 million from endorsements (like when companies pay him to promote their products) in the past year. This makes him one of the highest-paid athletes in the world for off-the-field income.
In total, Ronaldo earned $275 million in 2023 alone, putting him in second place just behind golfer Jon Rahm, who earned $203 million.
Over his entire career, if you adjust for inflation (how money’s value changes over time), Ronaldo has earned $1.92 billion by March this year. He is expected to make over $2 billion by the end of the year.
When he reaches that mark, he will join a very small group of super-rich athletes, like basketball legend Michael Jordan and golf star Tiger Woods.
