Ronaldo unchallenged

Austria is already at the forefront on TikTok

Austria's fan favorites: David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic(Bild: GEPA, krone.at-mrgrafik)

The EUROphoria surrounding Austria's national team is huge and can also be clearly seen in the social media figures. In international comparison, our footballers sell themselves expensively on social media. But Portugal's superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is in a league of his own ...

The "Krone" reports from Düsseldorf

The red-white-red migration from Austria to Germany reaches its peak. More than 20,000 fans of the national team are present in Düsseldorf. The official ÖFB team bus with the "Krone" winners on board also arrives at the "scene of the action" early on Monday morning.

The euphoria and popularity figures surrounding Marko Arnautovic & Co. can also be clearly seen in the social media figures.

Ronaldo in a league of his own
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo is in a league of his own. He gathers an incredible 900 million (!) people on his Facebook, Instagram and X channels. The Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr had been in "no man's land" before signing him, but gained 30 million new "fans" in the first four weeks after his transfer. "Cristiano's charisma and pull are gigantic. Everything he touches turns to gold," says social media expert Aleks Brankovic during the European Championship check with the "Krone".

The scenes that unfolded during the Portuguese team's public training session in Gütersloh spoke volumes. Portugal's media team has to walk a delicate tightrope. Of course, the fans are primarily interested in pictures and video sequences of CR7. However, the media imbalance can also quickly cause unrest in Portugal's dressing room in view of other stars such as Bruno Fernandes and João Felix.

Alaba is the best Austrian
Ronaldo is followed by Kylian Mbappé (145 million) and Toni Kroos (85 million) in the European Championship player rankings, while the best Austrian is David Alaba (30 million). Our opponents today, France, are the European champions with 50 million followers, followed by England (38 million) and Portugal (30 million) thanks to the Ronaldo effect. Bringing up the rear is Slovenia (190,000). Austria gathers just over one million people on its channels. "Which is quite respectable considering the size of the country," says Brankovic.

Selfies with David Alaba are particularly popular.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

500,000 people follow the ÖFB 
Austria performs best on TikTok (a portal for short videos), which is currently particularly popular with kids and young people. Where almost 500,000 people follow the ÖFB. The proportion of fans from abroad is high at just under 20 percent. This is mainly due to the pull of Real Madrid star Alaba, but also numerous other legionnaires at well-known clubs (especially in Germany).

A sensation by the "EURO secret favorites" today against the French would give the red-white-red channels on the Internet another huge boost!