The list of the 50 most influential athletes of 2021: three women on the podium and the Argentine who surpasses Messi

This Monday the complete ranking was known of the 50 most influential athletes of the year according to a study based exclusively on the analysis of their profiles on social networks. The great novelty is undoubtedly that the members of the podium are women, which marks a paradigm shift with respect to what happened in recent years.

The methodology for the formation of this list is to give an “Influence Score” to each of the stars that is made up of five key things: posting frequency, reach, engagement, fan demographics, and fan appeal. For this, your activity on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok are taken into account. The goal is to understand who is more “marketable” from their profiles, so the number of followers is not a vital characteristic to climb positions.

“Based not only on reach, but also understanding of attractiveness and affluent demographics, we felt this year’s 50s will represent a true picture of where athlete marketing stands in a world where their voices are heard the most. stronger than ever ”, explained Paul Guest, commercial director of SportsPro, who was in charge of carrying out the study together with Greenfly.

The gymnast Simone biles, who came as the highest figure to the Tokyo Olympics 2021, is located at the top of the list. The 24-year-old American was in the news for the dropouts she starred in at the Japan event due to the pressure exerted on it, when he abdicated almost all the finals of the individual tests, with the exception of the beam.

In second place was Naomi osaka, the great figure of women’s tennis, who at 23 also has raised his voice to express the psychological problems experienced by professional athletes. The Japanese had given up on Ronald Garros when her request to be absent from post-match press conferences was rejected and set a precedent at the time in the WTA.

The archer Ashlyn harris He is the one who closes the podium. The two-time American world champion with her national team is one of the most experienced of the North American team and is married to Ali krieger (seventh on the list), her partner in Orlando Pride. In February of this year they adopted a baby girl, Sloane Phillips.

From behind appear the Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez and the Argentine Paulo dybala, who closes the Top 5. One of the great surprises without a doubt is that Lionel messi, one of the most famous personalities on the planet, is in 12th place, far from Cristiano Ronaldo, sixth in the table.

The 50 most influential athletes of 2021

1. Simone Biles (artistic gymnastics – United States)

2. Naomi Osaka (tennis – Japan)

3. Ashlyn Harris (soccer – United States)

4. Canelo Alvarez (boxing – Mexico)

5. Paulo Dybala (soccer – Argentina)

6. Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer – Portugal)

7. Ali Krieger (soccer – United States)

8. Stefanos Tsitsipas (tennis – Greece)

9. Novak Djokovic (tennis – Serbia)

10. Alex Morgan (soccer – United States)

11. Hardik Pandya (cricket – India)

12. Lionel Messi (soccer – Argentina)

13. Roger Federer (tennis – Switzerland)

14. Sergio Ramos (soccer – Spain)

15. Karim Benzema (soccer – France)

16. Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1 – England)

17. Te’a Cooper (basketball – United States)

18. Robert Lewandowski (soccer – Poland)

19. Grigor Dimitrov (tennis – Bulgaria)

20. Nyjah Huston (skateboard – United States)

21. Serena Williams (tennis – United States)

22. Candace Parker (basketball – United States)

23. Kylian Mbappé (soccer – France)

24. LeBron James (basketball – United States)

25. Dominic Thiem (tennis – Austria)

26. Rafaela Nadal (tennis – Spain)

27. Thomas Müller (soccer – Germany)

28. Katie Ledecky (swimming – United States)

29. Valentino Rossi (motorcycle – Italy)

30. Stephen Curry (basketball – United States)

31. Neymar (soccer – Brazil)

32. Daniel Ricciardo (Formula 1 – Australia)

33. Bethany Hamilton (surf – United States)

34. Kristie Mewis (soccer – United States)

35. Megan Rapinoe (soccer – United States)

36. Gabriel Medina (surf – Brazil)

37. Kelley O’Hara (soccer – United States)

38. Riyad Mahrez (soccer – Algeria)

39. Julie Ertz (soccer – United States)

40. Cody Bellinger (baseball – United States)

41. Mesut Özil (soccer – Germany)

42. Chloe b (snowboard – United States)

43. Tobin Heath (soccer – United States)

44. Lieke Martens (soccer – Holland)

45. Sydney Dwyer (soccer – United States)

46. ​​Cam Newton (American football – United States)

47. Shikhar Dhawan (cricket – India)

48. Paul Pogba (soccer – France)

49. Sydney McLaughlin (Athletics – United States)

50. Devin Booker (basketball – United States)

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