As the world’s biggest sports show kicks off next week, all eyes will be on two of football’s biggest names from the past quarter century: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo and Messi are not just living legends, they are living legends, still playing at an elite level for club and country.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The past five World Cups have put their names on everyone’s lips, but now that the 2026 tournament begins, has a new player emerged to challenge mainstream appeal for both fans and brands?
The player most often mentioned in that conversation is the sublimely talented Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé. When he left the continent to start a new chapter in football in the Middle East (Ronaldo) and the United States (Messi), he immediately joined the ranks of two legends as one of Europe’s most famous stars.
In some ways, Mbappe’s World Cup career has already surpassed that of Ronaldo and Messi. He won the World Cup at just 19 years old and the Golden Boot at 23. In comparison, Messi won a World Cup trophy at the age of 35, while Ronaldo has yet to win one.
Currently, Ronaldo, 41, and Messi, 38, are almost certainly playing in their final World Cup, but has the popular torch already been passed to Mbappe as we head into the 2026 tournament?
With the World Cup just around the corner, Al Jazeera Sports is analyzing some key metrics to determine who has more star power heading into soccer’s global extravaganza.
1. Who are the players filling the 2026 World Cup matches?
⚽ Advantage: Messi
Tickets for Messi’s Argentina group stage match were completely sold out for the first time.
FIFA announced in November that Argentine fans had topped ticket sales before the first official sale, ostensibly because of their desire to see Messi’s swan song and because of Messi’s high profile in the United States as a domestic Major League Soccer (MLS) superstar.
Tickets for Mbappé’s game against France and Ronaldo’s group stage match against Portugal also ultimately sold out, but resale sites like StubHub are listing tickets for the blockbuster Portugal-Colombia game in Miami on June 27th for staggering prices ranging from $3,000 to $12,000. Portugal’s other two group stage matches are listed in the $750 to $2,000 range.
Argentina vs Austria: ~$750-$1,500 Argentina vs Algeria: ~$700-$2,300 Argentina vs Jordan: ~$1,000-$6,400 France vs Senegal ~$750-$2,400 France vs Iraq ~$480-$3,100 France vs Norway ~ $850-$2,500 Portugal vs Democratic Republic of Congo ~ $750-$2,000 Portugal vs Uzbekistan ~ $750-$2,000 Colombia vs Portugal ~ 3,000-$12,000
2. World Cup statistics: By the numbers
⚽ Advantage: Mbappe
At 27 years old, Mbappe is the least experienced, but statistically he heads into his third World Cup as the best goal-scoring forward of the trio, by a wide margin.
Despite playing eight fewer games, he has already surpassed Ronaldo’s total goal tally and is just one goal behind Messi.
The Argentine player has the most assists with eight.
Kylian Mbappé: 12 goals in 14 appearances (0.86 goals per game), 5 assists (2 competitions total) Lionel Messi: 13 goals in 26 appearances (0.5 goals per game), 8 assists (5 competitions total) Cristiano Ronaldo: 8 goals in 22 appearances (0.36 goals per game), 2 assists (5 competitions total)
3. Who are your fans searching for around the world?
⚽ Advantage: Ronaldo
Google revealed in 2023 that Ronaldo was the most searched athlete on its platform over the past 25 years. The Portuguese forward has dominated the annual list of Google’s most searched soccer players more than 10 times, most of them after Messi, and is also the most searched athlete and soccer player.
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, global data analysis has revealed that Ronaldo remains the number one searched footballer based on internet search volume, according to Hobbs Independent, an online publication and news portal that covers a wide range of global topics.
Ronaldo had an average monthly search count of 10,156,667 in 2026, more than double that of any other soccer player. Messi (3,276,667) and Mbappé (3,132,500) were statistically in third and fourth place behind Neymar Jr (5,066,667).
4. Who makes the most money?
⚽ Advantage: Ronaldo
Ronaldo is still head and shoulders above other players in terms of annual income. According to a report in Forbes magazine, the 40-year-old will become the world’s highest-paid athlete in 2025, earning a whopping $280 million a year.
About $230 million of that comes from a deal with club side Al Nasr, which helped them win the Saudi Professional League title last month. The remaining $50 million will come from brand endorsements including Nike, Binance, Herbalife, and Whoop, as well as personal investment portfolios.
Messi is next with $120 million. His annual salary is $50 million, but his off-field endorsements in 2025 are worth $70 million, more than his great Portuguese rival.
Mbappé’s total income is the lowest of the trio at $95 million. The Frenchman’s $70 million annual salary for Real Madrid makes him the highest-paid soccer player in Europe, according to Forbes calculations, but his $25 million off-field income (which also includes brand endorsements from the likes of Nike, Hublot and Dior) puts him well behind Ronaldo and Messi.
⚽ Advantage: Ronaldo
When it comes to social media influence, Ronaldo once again tops the list.
He is the most followed athlete on Instagram with 664 million followers. Messi follows with 506 million, while Mbappe is a distant third with 130 million.
Ronaldo also became the first person in history to have over 1 billion social media followers across all major platforms in September 2024.
“This is more than just a number. It’s a testament to our shared passion, drive and love for the game and beyond,” he wrote in an Instagram post after the milestone.
“From the streets of Madeira to the biggest stages in the world, I have always played for my family and for you. And now, a billion of us are united.”
6. Who has the best regular season stats?
⚽ Advantage: Mbappe
This metric is an easy win for the French player.
Mbappe is the only one of the three superstars still playing for a top-flight club in Europe and is considered by many to be the greatest striker in Europe, if not the world.
The Real Madrid talisman became La Liga’s top scorer in the 2025/26 season, scoring 25 goals in 32 appearances and winning the Pichichi trophy. In the 2024-25 season, he led Spain’s Primera Division with 31 goals in 34 league appearances, a record that earned him Europe’s Golden Boot award.
Mbappe’s incredible goal-scoring track record cannot be compared to that of Messi or Ronaldo, but that is due to the much higher level of competition and depth in La Liga and the Saudi Professional League (Ronaldo) and Major League Soccer (Messi).
By the way, Messi scored 29 league goals for Inter Miami in the 2024-25 season, winning the MLS Golden Boot Award and the Season MVP Award. Ronaldo scored 28 goals in 30 games for Al Nasr in the 2025-26 Saudi Professional League.
7. Who is the biggest selling star right now?
⚽ Advantage: Mbappe
On the topic of who currently creates the most commercial value for sponsors, Mbappe has two clear advantages over Ronaldo and Messi.
Firstly, the French player plays for Real Madrid, the richest club in the world, and is in the competition that is consistently the second-highest earning in the world’s soccer leagues, bringing in more than 5.4 billion euros ($6.28 billion) in regularized total revenue.
Secondly, compared to what Ronaldo achieved in Saudi Arabia or what Messi achieved in the US league, his supreme goal-scoring feat in La Liga will be broadcast to a much wider global audience.
The relative marketability of the game’s three icons in 2026 may depend on which team goes all the way and wins the World Cup for their country on July 19th.
The FIFA World Cup begins on June 11th. Check out Al Jazeera’s dedicated 2026 World Cup page for all the latest news, fixtures and live text commentary, and stay up to date with group standings, real-time results and schedules.
