Women's World Cup: who earns the most on Instagram and how does that compare to the male footballers?

These days you are nothing without your Instagram followers and it is the same for footballers too. They may be the highest earners in sport but you can bet they are monetizing their Instagram to make the most money from their follow count. 

As the Women's World Cup is set to begin in Australia and New Zealand on July 20 we take a closer look at the most followed footballers on Instagram. how much they are making from a post and how it compares to their male counterparts. 

Alisha Lehmann: 13.6 million followers - If Alisha didn’t share any of her footie pics and you came across her Insta profile you would genuinely think she was a model. The Swiss native has become so popular on the app that her follower count has surpassed fellow Swiss sports star tennis pro Roger Federer. The stunning blonde player has worked with Jewellery brand MJ.Jones and has an average media post estimated earnings of £241,000 that's per post.

Alex Morgan: 10 million followers - The American striker recently teamed up with Calvin Klein on their latest ad campaign. The football pro regularly posts ads from energy drinks and clothing to comfy mattresses. She can earn anything from £43,000 per branded post.

Alexia Putellas: 2.9 million followers - Despite only having a mere two million followers the Spanish midfielder can earn anything from £88,000 average media post. The high payment is due to her super-high engagement from her followers. The higher the engagement the more you can charge. She has teamed up with fashion brand Mango and skincare company MartiDerm and Spanish car brand CUPRA.   

Cristiano Ronaldo: 594 million followers - Well he is the most followed person on Instagram in the world. So it’s no surprise that the Portuguese footballer has lucrative brand deals with some of the biggest companies in the world including fashion house Armani and watch specialists Tag Heuer. He earns an average of £3.8m to £5.2m per Instagram post. 

Lionel Messi: 447 million followers - The Argentine forward player comes in after Cristiano as the second most followed person on Instagram. He signed a lifetime brand endorsement deal with Adidas in 2017 and regularly promotes the company on his profile with an estimated earning of £3.1m and £4.1m per post. 

Neymar Jr: 210 million followers - The Brazilian footballer may have only half the amount of followers as Cristian and Lionel but he can still charge a whopping £1.4m and £2m. He has collaborated with Blaze casinos and after ending his partnership with Nike he went on to join forces with Puma. 

FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 dates: Thu, 20 Jul 2023 – Sun, 20 Aug 2023