Soccer Aid 2023: England vs World XI on Social Media

It’s that time of the year again, Soccer Aid 2023 is imminent. The line-ups have been revealed - and it is one of the strongest squads ever.

A mix of football legends and a host of celebrities are set to take to the famous Old Trafford pitch on June 11 for the latest edition of the charity exhibition match, which has been held annually since 2006. 

Soccer Aid raises money and publicity for the international children’s charity Unicef. A team of England legends and celebrities will take on a World XI eleven. The World XI won last year’s match 4-1 on penalties after it finished 2-2 after 90 minutes.

In the age of Social Media, it is a priority for celebrities to engage with their fans across the globe. Therefore, the research team at Gambling.com decided to find out which star-studded Soccer Aid team/players rule the Social Media world. 

We analysed combined Social Media followings (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter channels) for each player at this year's event and calculated team/players estimated earnings on Instagram. So, who came out on top? 

Which Soccer Aid Team Has The Most Combined Followers? 

Our research discovered One Direction superstar Liam Payne came top by a landslide for the England team with a monumental 74 million combined followers. 

Hollywood actor, Tom Hiddleston, came in second place with over 23 million followers across all Social Media channels, while the likes of Chunkz, Gary Neville and Sir Mo Farah also made up the top 10. 

A special mention also has to go to Stormzy, who didn’t make the cut due to deleting his Social Media accounts in 2022, but would normally be challenging in the top 10. 

The entire England team had an impressive total of 160 million combined followers. 

For the World XI team, American TikTok influencer Noah Beck ruled the roost coming top in our leaderboard with over 43 million combined followers. Record-breaking sprinter Usain Bolt came in second place (for a change) with over 38 million followers, while football legends Francesco Totti, Roberto Carlos and Patrice Evra are some of the star-studded names to make up our top 10. 

The entire World XI team had a total of 180 million combined followers - trumping the England team by over 20 million followers. 

Which Soccer Aid Player Has The Most Combined Followers? 

Interestingly, our top 10 was made up of five players from the England team and five players from the World XI. England’s Liam Payne came top followed by World XI’s Noah Beck in second place and Usain Bolt in third. 

Liam Payne’s huge following on Instagram (25 million) and Twitter (33 million) in particular helped cement his place in top spot on our list while Noah Beck was the undisputed king of TikTok (34 million followers). For Facebook, Usain Bolt had by far the highest number of followers (21 million).

Which Soccer Aid Player Has The Highest Estimated Instagram Earnings? 

In terms of potential revenue for Social Media, Liam Payne is again head and shoulders above the rest, more than doubling that of second place Usain Bolt. 

According to our findings, Liam Payne can earn an estimated £54,473 for every branded post on Instagram – not a bad day's work for clicking a few buttons.

To summarise, the World XI took the Social Media crown for the most combined followers and Instagram earnings but will they be so victorious on June 11 and make it a second consecutive Soccer Aid win? 

Methodology 

Five different data points for each represented team/individual were measured in an index for the study. They were:

• Instagram Following
• Twitter Following
• Facebook Following
• TikTok Following
• Instagram Money Calculator