FIFA World Cup 2022™: The essential sports data hub

FIFA World Cup 2022TM: The essential data hub

Welcome to Nielsen’s essential data hub for the FIFA World Cup 2022™. We’ll keep you updated on the predictions, standings, sponsorship trends, fan insights and our perspective on it all.

Follow along as we track the intel you need—on and off the field.

2022 predictions
Influencer standings
World rankings
Road to 2026
Insights

2022 Predictions

Forecasts for who will advance and win World Cup Qatar

Gracenote’s 2022 World Cup predictions bracket

See our forecast for who will win

Round of 16

Quarter Final

Semi Final

Final

Semi Final

Quarter Final

Round of 16

New Hampshire

Predictions are based on over one million simulations that produce estimates showing the most likely team to fill each position in the knockout stages. During the 2022 World Cup, the simulation will be run after each day’s results to produce a new forecast which takes account of the latest information. The new forecast will be uploaded daily to this hub.

World Cup 2022 round predictions powered by Gracenote

See which teams are most likely to advance.

2022 World Rankings

The top influencers and current standings of the men's national teams

The World Cup’s most powerful players and teams on Instagram

These players consistently score the most views and engagement. The change in the world ranking is compared to the beginning of 2022.

Rank	Player Name	Country	Club	Instagram handle	Followers	Follower growth	Engagement rate	Average media value of branded posts (USD)
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Al-Nassr	@cristiano	398.2M	36.92%	1.99%	$3,699,128
2	Leo Messi	Argentina	PSG	@leomessi	518.8M	36.23%	2.28%	$3,249,346
3	Neymar	Brazil	PSG	@neymarjr	196.4M	17.41%	1.82%	$1,378,069
4	Kylian Mbappé	France	PSG	@k.mbappe	82.9M	29.63%	3.92%	$1,178,442
5	Viní Jr.	Brazil	Real Madrid	@vinijr	27.8M	109.43%	9.24%	$786,532
6	Gavi	Spain	FC Barcelona	@pablogavi	12.1M	754.09%	26.76%	$751,014
7	Karim Benzema	France	Real Madrid	@karimbenzema	62.5M	42.29%	2.96%	$653,493
8	Paulo Dybala	Argentina	AS Roma	@paulodybala	51.5M	14.46%	2.96%	$591,972
9	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	FC Barcelona	@_rl9	31.7M	37.68%	3.11%	$353,943
10	Eden Hazard	Belgium	Real Madrid	@hazardeden_10	27.2M	1.63%	3.70%	$413,457

Rankings are based on Nielsen's influencer measurement tool InfluenceScope. We focused on Instagram measurement since it is the platform used by the greatest number of athletes across generations. "The 10 most influential footballers" data is from December 2021-December 2022. The data presented in "The biggest breakthrough players" and "The most popular team accounts" tables reflect growth and engagement during the tournament, November 14-December 18, 2022. Rankings include athletes participating in the 2022 World Cup.

These footballers saw a big growth surge on social media.

Rank	Player Name	Country	Club	Instagram Handle	Followers	Follower growth	Engagement rate	Average media value of branded posts (USD)
1	Leo Messi	Argentina	PSG	@leomessi	398.2M	6.73%	4.30%	$6,855,288
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Al-Nassr	@cristiano	518.8M	4.50%	3.19%	$6,683,350
3	Richarlison	Brazil	Tottenham Hotspur	@richarlison	19.6M	178.72%	26.89%	$1,475,597
4	Neymar	Brazil	PSG	@neymarjr	196.4M	8%	4.89%	$3,849,546
5	Gue Sung Cho	Korea Republic	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	@whrbtjd	2.9M	9349.75%	224.36%	$1,339,391
6	Kylian Mbappé	France	PSG	@k.mbappe	82.9M	13.10%	7.57%	$2,446,623
7	Enzo Fernández	Argentina	Benfica	@enzojfernandez	4M	383.47%	51.88%	$518,526
8	Zakaria Aboukhlal	Morocco	Toulouse	@zakariaaboukhlal	2.4M	352.53%	41.12%	$257,158
9	Sofyan Amrabat	Morocco	Fiorentina	@sofyanamrabat	2.7M	290.31%	20.79%	$146,538
10	Yassine Bounou	Morocco	Sevilla	@bounouyassine_bono	4.9M	154.03%	51.11%	$714,660

These teams have the most avid Instagram followers from around the world.

Rank	Country	Country	Instagram Handle	Followers	Follower growth %	Engagement rate	% of fans outside home countryn
1	Brazil	Brazil	@cbf_futebol	15.8M	25.12%	4.65%	35.49%
2	France	France	@equipedefrance	13.4M	10.66%	2.97%	64.70%
3	Portugal	Portugal	@portugal	12.7M	16.50%	2.82%	86.30%
4	Argentina	Argentina	@afaseleccion	10.6M	34.50%	8.27%	54.19%
5	England	England	@england	9.2M	6.08%	1.47%	79.40%
6	Mexico	Mexico	@miseleccionmx	6.5M	6.96%	2.02%	47.31%
7	Germany	Germany	@dfb_team	5.3M	3.61%	2.23%	72.78%
8	Spain	Spain	@sefutbol	4.7M	11.56%	3.01%	75.83%
9	Morocco	Morocco	@equipedumaroc	3.2M	78.37%	9.44%	34.36%
10	Netherlands	Netherlands	@onsoranje	1.7M	13.01%	4.57%	73.49%

A men has raised both hands and hoped for win

Men’s World Ranking powered by Gracenote

See the men’s national team standings.

Last Updated

Rank	Team	Points
1	Argentina	2380
2	Brazil	2347
3	France	2331
4	Belgium	2285
5	England	2285
6	Spain	2280
7	Portugal	2280
8	Colombia	2279
9	Croatia	2274
10	Netherlands	2264

Rank	Team	Points
11	Uruguay	2255
12	Italy	2249
13	Germany	2210
14	Switzerland	2200
15	Ecuador	2200
16	Japan	2197
17	Serbia	2197
18	Morocco	2193
19	Peru	2191
20	Denmark	2188

Rank	Team	Points
21	USA	2185
22	Mexico	2169
23	Iran	2168
24	Scotland	2157
25	Ukraine	2154
26	Australia	2149
27	Senegal	2147
28	Canada	2147
29	Czech Republic	2147
30	Austria	2142

Rank	Team	Points
31	Hungary	2142
32	Tunisia	2139
33	Korea Republic	2134
34	Egypt	2131
35	Sweden	2130
36	Poland	2127
37	Russia	2125
38	Algeria	2119
39	Chile	2111
40	Venezuela	2110

Rank	Team	Points
41	Paraguay	2109
42	Costa Rica	2104
43	Türkiye	2101
44	Norway	2096
45	Greece	2083
46	Wales	2075
47	Panama	2071
48	Finland	2065
49	Slovenia	2061
50	Jordan	2060

Rank	Team	Points
51	Cote d'Ivoire	2058
52	Mali	2056
53	Uzbekistan	2053
54	Nigeria	2052
55	Romania	2052
56	Republic of Ireland	2050
57	Georgia	2048
58	Burkina Faso	2047
59	Iraq	2046
60	Oman	2044

Rank	Team	Points
61	Ghana	2041
62	Cameroon	2037
63	Qatar	2033
64	Haiti	2030
65	Saudi Arabia	2030
66	Slovakia	2026
67	Congo DR	2025
68	Bolivia	2019
69	Cabo Verde	2017
70	New Zealand	2012

Rank	Team	Points
71	Israel	2006
72	Mauritania	2005
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2001
74	Equatorial Guinea	1999
75	South Africa	1999
76	Guatemala	1993
77	Jamaica	1993
78	Angola	1991
79	Albania	1983
80	Bahrain	1978

Rank	Team	Points
81	North Macedonia	1977
82	Zambia	1976
83	Honduras	1973
84	China PR	1970
85	Montenegro	1969
86	Bulgaria	1969
87	Gambia	1969
88	Trinidad and Tobago	1966
89	Iceland	1964
90	Guinea	1961

Rank	Team	Points
91	United Arab Emirates	1959
92	Gabon	1958
93	Reunion	1956
94	El Salvador	1955
95	Northern Ireland	1953
96	Palestine	1953
97	Martinique	1951
98	Kosovo	1947
99	Armenia	1946
100	Estonia	1940

Rank	Team	Points
101	Kazakhstan	1939
102	Vietnam	1938
103	Togo	1933
104	Kuwait	1928
105	Uganda	1927
106	Guinea-Bissau	1922
107	Luxembourg	1922
108	Korea DPR	1918
109	French Guiana	1916
110	Syria	1916

Rank	Team	Points
111	Kenya	1914
112	Namibia	1913
113	Benin	1909
114	Belarus	1906
115	Azerbaijan	1904
116	Cuba	1903
117	Madagascar	1898
118	Mozambique	1894
119	Solomon Islands	1894
120	Guadeloupe	1886

Rank	Team	Points
121	Curacao	1885
122	Thailand	1884
123	Mayotte	1883
124	Suriname	1882
125	Malawi	1882
126	New Caledonia	1881
127	Tanzania	1881
128	Sierra Leone	1879
129	Botswana	1879
130	Libya	1878

Rank	Team	Points
131	Tajikistan	1875
132	Malaysia	1874
133	Central African Republic	1873
134	Comoros	1872
135	Nicaragua	1870
136	Lebanon	1868
137	Fiji	1868
138	Congo	1867
139	Ethiopia	1866
140	Cyprus	1863

Rank	Team	Points
141	Burundi	1862
142	Liberia	1862
143	Niger	1861
144	Zimbabwe	1860
145	Latvia	1860
146	Tahiti	1860
147	Indonesia	1855
148	Sudan	1854
149	Rwanda	1850
150	Eswatini	1847

Rank	Team	Points
151	India	1842
152	St Kitts and Nevis	1840
153	Papua New Guinea	1836
154	Guyana	1833
155	Vanuatu	1832
156	Kyrgyz Republic	1831
157	Bermuda	1828
158	Malta	1823
159	Faroe Islands	1818
160	Turkmenistan	1816

Rank	Team	Points
161	Dominican Republic	1814
162	Moldova	1814
163	Lithuania	1813
164	Lesotho	1812
165	Antigua and Barbuda	1810
166	Bonaire	1806
167	Puerto Rico	1790
168	Chad	1778
169	Singapore	1774
170	South Sudan	1771

Rank	Team	Points
171	Tuvalu	1768
172	Montserrat	1768
173	Eritrea	1764
174	Sint Maarten	1757
175	St Lucia	1753
176	Belize	1750
177	Hong Kong, China	1749
178	Cook Islands	1747
179	Barbados	1743
180	Sao Tome and Principe	1740

Rank	Team	Points
181	Afghanistan	1737
182	Samoa	1733
183	Andorra	1733
184	Yemen	1730
185	St Vincent and the Grenadines	1728
186	Grenada	1716
187	Philippines	1716
188	Aruba	1715
189	Turks and Caicos Islands	1709
190	Dominica	1708

Rank	Team	Points
191	Kiribati	1703
192	Bahamas	1694
193	Gibraltar	1691
194	Djibouti	1676
195	American Samoa	1671
196	Tonga	1670
197	Chinese Taipei	1669
198	Saint-Martin	1664
199	Mauritius	1660
200	Maldives	1659

Rank	Team	Points
201	Cayman Islands	1643
202	Myanmar	1642
203	Somalia	1638
204	Nepal	1635
205	Northern Mariana Islands	1624
206	Bangladesh	1624
207	Seychelles	1619
208	Liechtenstein	1616
209	Mongolia	1610
210	Pakistan	1603

Rank	Team	Points
211	Cambodia	1594
212	Anguilla	1573
213	US Virgin Islands	1571
214	British Virgin Islands	1543
215	Guam	1536
216	Sri Lanka	1523
217	Laos	1514
218	Macau	1507
219	San Marino	1500
220	Brunei Darussalam	1496

Rank	Position	Team	Team	Points
221			Timor-Leste	1490
222			Bhutan	1469

The Gracenote World Football Ranking is a proprietary methodology created in 2002 and based on the Elo system used for ranking chess players. Every time two teams compete, one wins points from the other depending on the result, the winning margin, who is at home and the relative strength of the two teams playing, and the importance of the competition.

The Road to 2026

Looking ahead to the 2026 North American World Cup

Insights into North American football fandom

See how fans from the 2026 World Cup host nations compare.

Insights

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