Footballers have a huge platform to interact with their fans all around the world thanks to social media, which is recognized as a crucial instrument for self-promotion.

Some people use their position for good, like Marcus Rashford and his Twitter effort to fight child hunger, while others may abuse it, like Joleon Lescott who "pocket tweeted" a photo of a new vehicle only hours after his team lost 6-0.

Footballers are becoming more and more dependent on Instagram, and the best players have amassed fan bases that are larger than the teams they represent.

The top 10 football players on Instagram, both current and former, are listed below.

1 Cristiano Ronaldo (560 Million)

Ronaldo, one of the most marketable and well-known sportsmen in the world, was named the highest-paid athlete in the world by Forbes in 2016 and 2017 and the most renowned athlete in the world by ESPN from 2016 to 2019. He was listed by Time as one of the top 100 global influencers in 2014. He is the third athlete to collect $1 billion in career earnings in sports and the first football player.

The Al Nassr star has 560 million followers on Instagram and has an incredible fan base all over the world. His not playing in the European League has now led to the broadening of his fan base, especially in Saudi Arabia and other such Middle East countries. 

Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly the most followed individual on Instagram in the present times.