Defending champions France, record world champions Brazil or the eternal tournament team Germany? If it were known before the World Cup who will be world champion in Qatar, some people would bring a lot of money to the betting shop. When asked by the news agency spot on new, the search engine giant Google gave an indication of the biggest favorites. These teams and players are the most searched for worldwide.
The result of the most frequently searched players on Google should be the least surprising. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo tops the list ahead of Argentina's Lionel Messi, which also reflects social media proportions. On Instagram, for example, Ronaldo is the only person scratching half a billion followers (488 million). Messi is also in the top five of the world's largest accounts, with around 360 million followers.
But back to Google: Brazilian Neymar is the third most searched for, relegating his Parisian teammate Kylian Mbappé to fourth place. Fifth place should be one of the big surprises for some fans, because that's where the Senegalese Sadio Mané ends up - ahead of the Pole Robert Lewandowski. Manuel Neuer, the most frequently googled German international, comes in seventh. Korea's Son Heung-min, Uruguay's Luís Suarez and England's Harry Kane complete the top ten.
However, it was to be expected that in Google's World Cup search trends Brazil would be number one and the most frequently searched for, after all, the Seleção has long been the world's favorite soccer player. Messi's Argentina ranks second among the most googled teams, with England completing the top three. However, it is questionable whether the motherland of football is really one of the top favourites: England played the last and only final in 1966 at Wembley.
In comparison, the German national team receives slightly less interest in search queries. Only seventh place came out in Google's World Cup search trends for the DFB team. Ahead of the team of national coach Hansi Flick, Mexico is fourth, defending champions France fifth and Spain sixth. Ronaldo's Portugal is the eighth most Googled, Ecuador surprises with ninth place and the Netherlands complete the top ten.
