Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in 2023 and won an eighth Ballon d'Or later that year. The golden ticket came gift-wrapped in flamingo pink. Instantly iconic. Nailed on to adorn bedroom walls from Buenos Aires to Barcelona and be splashed across billboards the world over. Lionel Messi's arrival at Inter Miami was about as sure a marketing hit as you could ask for. Social media accounts spiked, shirts sold out, match tickets went for stupid money.

But new followers hadn't just come for the Herons. "A lot of people are walking around cities and towns in the UK and Europe wearing that flamingo pink of Inter Miami with zero affiliation to Miami, having never been there," explains sports brand strategist James Kirkham. "It's quite a normal thing now. But it is the player who has done the job." That football lovers should want to show a connection with arguably the greatest player of all time comes as no surprise - likewise his long-term rival in the now-distinct yellow of Al-Nassr. Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Barcelona or Real Madrid. MLS or Saudi Pro League. These generational superstars have long stirred heated debate, from curious kids with jumpers for goalposts to social media cultists armed with memes and virtual binders of blistering stats.

But this trend of following individual players transcends merely Messi and Ronaldo. "It's been happening for a while, ever since the sheer impact and influence of gaming, particularly on young fans," says Kirkham, who remembers a swell of support for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Kirkham says younger fans are actually "less rigid or tribal than they used to be" and boast a "more encyclopaedic knowledge" developed through video games - including EA Sports FC or Football Manager. Other touch points come via YouTube and trading cards. They follow teams from different countries or leagues not for the badge on the front, but because of the name on the back.

"Fans play as these players in games," says Kirkham. "So there is a really thin line between virtual and real life. Following a player and buying them as part of your Ultimate Team and then wearing that player's name on the back of your shirt, be that Atletico Madrid or Chelsea or Dortmund, kind of makes no difference." Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 129 goals in 148 games since joining Al-Nassr.

To paraphrase Eric Cantona, you can change most things in life but never your football team. Who you support is primarily an emotional connection forged through family or geography. In many cases, you're born into it. According to a study called 'The Rise of the Second Club Fan', however, published before this summer's World Cup, 80% of global supporters now also follow a second team. Head of insights Matthew Kyle, who authored the report by Engage and MTM, says that does not mean fans are abandoning the team they have supported their whole life, rather choosing another or sometimes multiple others to engage with too. It can be more common in countries or regions that do not boast a strong league, with geography no barrier to second-club fandom.

"They are often looking for 'who else can I support?' It's more natural," adds Kyle. This can be a more rational choice - fans might relate to the club's story, their culture and values, or simply like their kit. The most powerful entry point to following a second club the study suggests, though, is players - meaning support can move when the player does. "For this audience, they are the club," adds the report. "These fans track individuals, not institutions."

Griezmann eventually joined Barcelona in 2019, before returning to Atletico two years later. The game has changed quickly. It was the summer of 2018, days before France kicked off their World Cup-winning campaign that Antoine Griezmann laid out his plans for the big reveal. 'The Decision', he teased, would come at the end of a half-hour documentary broadcast on Spanish TV. Barcelona thought they had him, as did most fans when Gerard Pique - whose company produced the show - tweeted a popcorn emoji. At the end of the documentary, however, Griezmann stood in front of the Metropolitano and revealed he was staying at Atletico Madrid in one of two different endings reportedly filmed to keep the decision secret.

The self-confessed NBA fanatic - inspired by LeBron James' live show by the same name in 2010, when the basketball star joined the Miami Heat - was attempting to own his narrative. Instead, he and Pique caught some criticism. Kyle says that "self-commercialisation" did not have the impact it would have done now if it was Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe. Griezmann was almost before his time.

Many prominent players now share regular updates from their lives on their own YouTube channels - from Haaland to Ronaldo, Jude Bellingham and Lionesses' star Ella Toone. "Players are becoming their own distribution levers, with some in particular taking a driving seat in terms of 'how I project myself onto the world' and building their own channels and audience," explains Kyle. Now, in many cases, the players do own the narrative and fans are increasingly able to invest in their journeys, which are more accessible than ever.

"Players are far more culturally symbolic than they used to be," says Kirkham. "It is not that players don't do endorsements now, but they know they have to resonate with fans, so fans can really latch on to them and get behind them. Look at what Marcus Rashford did during Covid in terms of changing actual legislation. Young fans want to know players stand for something more - that gives them more chance to follow and pursue them, find a deeper connection with them. They look for stuff that is aligned to them, who they are, their causes and where they're from. I think we will increasingly see that."

Erling Haaland has 76.7 million followers on Instagram. With eyes around the globe focused on North America this summer, the World Cup was a great launch pad for many players' personal brands. Vozinha, the previously little-known Cape Verde goalkeeper, became a cult hero for his heroics against Spain - the 40-year-old's Instagram growing from 50,000 to nearly 30 million followers. But big-name players were also big winners. Spain and Barcelona star Lamine Yamal saw a huge spike in followers, as did Bellingham. Even Ronaldo, the most-followed athlete on Instagram, experienced a healthy leap.

Most notable, though, was Norway forward Haaland, whose popularity skyrocketed as fans flocked to his Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat accounts. Haaland's winning formula was a mix of his humble and relatable persona - whether sporting a cowboy hat or helping Norway's kit man - a very active social media presence in which he comments and replies to posts, and being the centre of viral clips and memes, from his "bromance" with former team-mate Bellingham to the Russian model who shared an uncanny likeness to the forward.

"Haaland was a massive winner from the World Cup," says Kyle. "He gained more than 51 million followers since 1 July on his social accounts - bear in mind the first six months of this year he only gained 11 million. Obviously he had a good World Cup. But a massive part of it was the personality coming across, interacting with fans, memes, his stature and what he looks like, Norway being there [in the last eight] for the first time and the fans' rowing celebration - all that kind of stuff."

Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham both have platforms for engaging with fans away from the media run by their club or country. Indeed, Haaland has almost 20 million more Instagram followers than his club Manchester City and, as mentioned, his own YouTube channel. "You'll see more and more creating their own entertainment formats, content networks, and that is away from the clubs," adds Kirkham, who worked with Harry Kane on the England captain's app Cleats Club, aimed at helping the forward reply to fans' questions on his own terms.

"The clubs are very aware, but they can't do a lot other than build their own club ecosystem. It is difficult because they don't fully own the player - they can go and talk about their favourite rap music on a show or do a podcast. It will be a continual trade off, where the club get everything from them because of shirt sales, but they know ultimately they are human with their own power to do the shows and content they want."

It is, however, good news for fans, says Kirkham. "It means more and more for them," he adds. "Fans have an insatiable appetite for football and the chances are it can't be fully quenched, because at the moment you can't put enough out there. Whatever the platform you're choosing to pursue players on, there is more and more for you as a fan. Players and fans are realising that and leaning into it increasingly."

LAFC reportedly more than doubled their YouTube followers after Son Heung-min joined - with 70% of those new followers coming from South Korea. The question for clubs is whether they can keep those fans who arrived because of a player when they leave. That brings us on to another theme - the national hero. Turkish side Trabzonspor are currently experiencing such a windfall after signing Egypt star Mohammed Salah following his glorious nine years at Liverpool, while Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a decade of Son Heung-min before the South Korea icon joined LAFC last summer.

Kyle says: "Son is a great example. He wasn't a global superstar when he arrived but he was a huge player from South Korea, and over the course of his time with them Spurs became the most-supported foreign club there, topping Manchester United. Now, when Son left, Spurs didn't immediately lose millions of followers on their socials from Korea. But we did see a small spike on his new club."

Kyle says it is about trying to deliver content those fans still want to engage with. "The easy answer is to say global superstars will do it on their own and these clubs without them will struggle," he adds. "But every club has characters. Every player leaves eventually, even if they leave by retiring at your club. So it's about using them as an asset while there and thinking about how all fans are also interested in stuff off the pitch. Behind the scenes content always does really well. Even if you're not a fan of that club, you might stop scrolling and watch 'a day in the life' of a player because it might be good content."

Think Welcome to Wrexham. Which poses another thought: perhaps we're entering the era of fans following the star owner, too? "Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac would have been a huge draw for people who don't know football," adds Kyle. "On the counter, there will be people in the football community saying 'this will be interesting because what the hell do they know?'. You've got the benefit of football being like soap opera - seasons of television, seasons of football, different stories. And football never ends."

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