Champions League: Who’s winning on social media?

Engaging influencers on Instagram: Players and brands that built momentum

The top posters tagging Inter, PSG, and the CL on Instagram were official brand accounts. The CL and PSG topped the list, clearly tagging each other. Even knocked-out clubs ranked, with Arsenal coming in third, Barcelona fifth, and Dortmund eighth. 

Beyond the clubs, here are the accounts that generated significant buzz for the three accounts we tracked:

• Hakan Çalhanoğlu (@hakancalhanoglu, 4.6m followers, Instagram): The Inter Milan midfielder gained traction online, generating 2.43m engagements across 12 Stories and seven posts, for a strong 7.97% engagement rate. 
• Alessandro Bastoni (@alessandrobastoni, 1.22m followers, Instagram): Inter centre-back, Bastoni delivered a staggering 4.35 million engagements through just five Stories and 11 posts, achieving a standout 34.56% ER – the highest among the players listed. 
• David Beckham (@davidbeckham, 88.09m followers, Instagram): The football legend joined the conversation, posting four Stories, three posts, and two reels that generated 1.62 million engagements, for a 0.37% ER.
• Pedri González (@pedri, 16.92m followers, Instagram): With just three Stories and two posts, Pedri sparked 3.31m engagements and a 10.21% ER.
• Ousmane Dembélé (@o.dembele7, 15.33m followers, Instagram): The PSG winger posted three Stories and three posts, racking up 3.15m engagements at a 7.02%  ER.
• Football channel 433 (@433, 76.75m followers, Instagram): The giant football platform, 433, brought in 2.11m engagements with just one Story and three reels.

Players like Bastoni and Dembele primarily share carousel posts featuring images from the game. One post by Dembele, tagging PSG alongside a picture of the moment PSG won the semi-final, has over 2.2m likes. 

Brand spotlight: Adidas stood out as the most impactful brand on Instagram, generating 4.21m engagements and a 3.96% ER over just three reels. 

Instagram remains the official channel for brands and players. The visual content allows them to share professional images from games. Carousels let posters combine comedic, personal, and professional content with less pressure than individual posts. 

Influencers on TikTok: Humour and virality beat big names

Instagram hits all the expected notes. But TikTok takes a fresh approach. Niche creators, comedy, and even nano-influencers thrive on the platform. 

On TikTok, the second most engaging video tagging Inter, PSG, or the CL is from a women’s footballer, Andrea Medina (@andreamedinaa3, 395,600 followers, TikTok). With fewer followers, she gained 1.02m engagements and a 257% ER via one post featuring her dancing and singing with her Atletico Madrid teammates.

Even more intriguing, a nano-influencer created the next most engaging post. Anaelle (@livewithana, 5,140 followers, TikTok) gained a whopping 8,000% ER with a viral post playfully pointing out gender roles and men’s reaction to CL games. 

Plus, micro-influencer, karim__10jr (@karim10jr, 24,500 followers, TikTok) posted an incredible 116 pieces of content over the past 6 weeks, generating 572,600 engagements. 

So, follower count comes second to creativity and inspiration on TikTok. The platform remains a launchpad to virality. This is a great opportunity for brands and influencers to reach massive audiences, even with low follower counts.

Impressions and reach: How many people are viewing CL content?

Impressions are the total number of times content is seen, regardless of clicks or engagement. During global events like the Champions League, impressions reveal how far a message travels.

Inter owns the spotlight

Both PSG and Inter have seen a boost in exposure compared to last year – surprising, given Inter were also CL finalists in 2024.

PSG racked up 1.07 billion impressions between 1 April and 15 May, up 12.5% from the same period last year. But engagement tells a different story. Their ER dropped by 17.5%, suggesting that while more people are seeing content about the club, fewer are interacting with it.

Inter, on the other hand, is on a remarkable upswing. The club pulled in 1.13bn impressions, a staggering 236% jump from 2024. Even more impressively, their ER rose by more than a quarter (27%). 

Earned media value: Instagram brings more brand value

Earned media value (EMV) is a way to measure how much the posts, mentions, and shares would have cost through traditional marketing channels.

Content tagging the three accounts generated €289.12m in EMV on Instagram over the past 6 weeks. Equal to about two Declan Rices on the transfer market – aka, big money.  

The CL account leads the field, pulling in an enormous €148.2m, around double Inter’s €78.3m and PSG’s €62.5m. 

On TikTok, smaller sums were at play, with just one-tenth (€22.17m) of Instagram’s EMV. So, we’ll focus on Instagram for this section. 

Understanding EMV spikes: 2024 vs. 2025

As you’d expect, match days make money. The CL account consistently generates more EMV than the individual teams this year, peaking at €46.8m on the week of April 7, likely due to broader team participation at the quarter finals.

For context, last year’s final week brought €50m in EMV for the CL. The 2024 semi-final 2nd leg week brought in considerably less, with only €19.5m. This suggests that this year's tournament, and perhaps the new format, have boosted enthusiasm. 

Despite the CL winning more attention in 2025, the teams have yet to match last year’s winner, Real Madrid. They generated €94.3m during the week of the 27th May – winning the Supercopa, CL, and La Liga. 

Real Madrid can thank celebrity players like Jude Bellingham (@judebellingham, 39.6m followers, Instagram) and Kylian Mbappe (@k.mbappe, 142m followers, Instagram) for generating value. Together, they drove €76m in EMV between 1 April and 1 June. 

Despite not reaching the heights of Real Madrid, Inter’s EMV is 262% and PSG’s is 9.06% higher than during the same period last year. 

Declan Rice: Two free kicks, one viral moment

Declan Rice’s back-to-back free-kick goals were a viral moment on social media. The midfielder had never scored a free kick during his 338 games as a professional footballer. But on the biggest stage, he stepped up and hit the back of the net twice. 

This fantastic story and spectacle snowballed into influencer content. Replays, skits, and memes featured across all social media platforms. Let’s take a look at some of the viral content. 

Jeremy Lynch (@jeremylynch, 13.3m followers, YouTube) posted a YouTube Short trying to recreate the free kick. It took multiple tries, even on the training pitch, revealing how challenging the feat was. The video gained 859,000 views and 23,000 likes. 

Influencer and Arsenal fan, Matthew Pincus (@papapincus, 119,000 followers, Instagram), posted a comedic reel. He uses an old-age filter to show himself missing decades of his life while replaying the free kicks. The video has over half a million likes on Instagram. On TikTok, the same video has 2.5m plays and 274,800 likes. 

Brand spotlight: Adidas Football shared a simple post replaying a clip of both free kicks simultaneously, which generated 2.08m likes, equalling €5.15m in EMV. 

Asda also shared a meme post showing a rice cooker and an image of the midfielder on TikTok. This playful content generated €18,600 in EMV through 7,440 likes and 50,240 plays.

Hopping on these viral moments associates brands, players, and audiences. And the shared experience makes social media users more likely to engage. The Asda post performed better than (3.47% ER) than its usual content (0.94%). Adidas also beat its usual engagement rate of 1.03%, reaching 5.91% with the post. 

Brands connecting through the Champions League

Let’s explore the different types of content brands sponsored on social media during the tournament. 

Gillette: Sponsors of the Champions League invite an ambassador

Singer Tom Grennan (@tomgrennan, 522,500 followers, Instagram) is a brand ambassador for Gillette. The razor company paid for his trip to watch a match in Milan with his dad. 

He captioned the Instagram reel showing his journey and experience at the event. The content took a storytelling approach, following the pair as they share memories and fond moments. This content reinforces Gillette as an aspirational brand by associating with high-ticket events. It also adds humanity, centring around the father-son relationship, which is highly relatable to football fans. 

Heineken: Capitalising on sponsorships with influencer events

Champions League sponsors Heineken’s campaign made clever use of creators with consistently high engagement rates:

• Santiago Vazquez (@futcrunch, 604,000 followers, Instagram): Vazquez has a high engagement rate of 8.8% on Instagram. His Heineken post featured him with the Champions League trophy and pulled in 7,800 likes. 
• William Jonathan Lenney (@willne, 1.09m followers, Instagram): With an overall engagement rate of 11.2%, Lenney reached 19,652 likes with his post about the UCL Trophy Tour.

These posts show how inviting influencers to events boosts engagement and supports other marketing strategies. The content creates itself in these scenarios, with less need for ideation. 

YouTube watchalongs: Football's new commentary

Watchalongs have become a fixture of football culture, turning solo viewing into a shared experience. The accounts are typically on YouTube, which has emerged as the go-to long-form media channel. 

Here are some of the most popular football channels posting CL watchalongs:

• That’s Football (@thatsfootball, 1.33m subscribers, YouTube): This channel shares watchalongs for many high-impact football matches. “INTER vs BARCELONA LIVE Watchalong with Mark GOLDBRIDGE” received 456,916 views, equalling 196,480 EMV. “PSG vs ARSENAL LIVE Watchalong with Mark GOLDBRIDGE” gained 385,000 views. 
• The Redmen TV (@theredmentv, 563,000 subscribers, YouTube): This Liverpool fan channel posts watchalongs for Liverpool’s CL games. The 11 March watchalong for Liverpool vs. PSG gained 154,573 views. 
• Box2Box (@box2box, 160,000 subscribers, YouTube): Box2Box creates live streams for Champions League games. Their video for the PSG vs Arsenal match had four people running commentary and won 51,940 views.

Part of the appeal of these channels is the rawness. There’s swearing, tangents, and in-jokes. You won’t see a pundit wearing a navy suit or PC evasion of complex subjects here. 

Instead, there is honesty and community. Viewers comment and react to the influencer. This encourages deeper analysis and back-and-forth discussions impossible via traditional commentary. 

This is an opportunity for brands. Viewers and influencers form close relationships. Plus, ads are mentioned throughout the content, similarly to a podcast. There is also an opportunity to promote affiliate links and discounts through on-screen QR codes. 

Women's Champions League: Growing popularity

The UEFA Women’s Champions League final will see Arsenal meet Barcelona. The 2024-25 campaign has delivered record-breaking figures, both in stadiums and on screens. 

Average attendance for the 2024 semi-finals was 35,933, with Chelsea drawing 39,398 to Stamford Bridge and Lyon hosting 38,466 against PSG. This year, 40,045 attended Arsenal vs. Lyon on 19 April. 

On Instagram, the women’s Champions League (@wchampionsleague, 1.2m followers, Instagram) account only possesses 2.5% of the men’s audience. Over the past six weeks, it generated €2.64m in EMV on Instagram. 

On TikTok, though, women’s footballer Andrina Medina ranks as the second most popular piece of content across the entire Champions League campaign. 

The Champions League on social media

Whether it’s a last-minute screamer or a meme-worthy miss, these football moments spark massive online conversations. Brands can join in, but be smart. Always check usage rights and platform guidelines before repurposing match content or tagging players.

Instagram is the home of prestige content. Think professional visuals, carousel posts, and branded partnerships with players and clubs. But TikTok thrives on spontaneity and humour. Trends, lo-fi formats, and creator collabs do well. 

Overall, the CL, PSG, and Inter generate significant buzz, which will only increase as the final looms.