Haaland’s Instagram Empire Explodes Past 72 Million After Cup Run
Erling Haaland closed out the 2026 World Cup as the tournament’s single biggest Instagram gainer in raw numbers, adding a jaw-dropping 31,832,161 new followers between June 8 and July 20. That’s a 78.3% surge that pushed his total past the 72 million mark, landing at 72,476,644 followers, according to a final tracker update covering all 1,200-plus players at the tournament.
The numbers translate directly into serious money. Haaland’s estimated earnings per sponsored post now sit at $724,766 (£570,681 / €664,901) — the highest of any player tracked across the entire competition.
Haaland Pulls Away From the Pack in the Final Stretch
Haaland wasn’t just the full-tournament leader. He kept adding followers all the way through the Final. In the closing stretch alone, from after the Semi-Finals through the Final (July 16-20), he picked up another 2,886,662 new followers, a 4.1% jump that put him third in that period behind Spain’s Lamine Yamal and England’s Jude Bellingham.
A spokesperson for MyBettingSites.co.uk, which compiled the data, said Haaland’s late surge was enough to overtake a rival who had led for most of the tournament. “Erling Haaland finishes this tournament as the biggest Instagram gainer in raw numbers, adding over 31.8 million new followers since the World Cup began, a figure that overtook Vozinha’s total in the final stretch as Norway’s run went deep,” the spokesperson said.
That rival, Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha, still put up historic numbers of his own. He finished second overall with 29,458,989 new followers, now sitting at 29,490,527 — a rise of more than 93,407.9%. The spokesperson noted that in percentage terms, Vozinha’s climb remains unmatched. “Vozinha’s story is still the more remarkable one in percentage terms, though. Going from 31,538 followers to over 29 million is a rise of more than 93,000% for the Cape Verde goalkeeper, and nothing else in this tournament came close to it.”
Jude Bellingham rounded out the top three full-tournament gainers with 11,846,060 new followers (+28.7%), reaching 53,108,938 total and an estimated $531,089 (£418,180 / €487,221) per sponsored post.
Haaland’s rise also powered Norway to the top of the national gains table, with the country’s squad adding +34,255,716 followers combined, almost entirely on the back of his individual numbers. Cape Verde finished second (+32,745,882), fueled by Vozinha, ahead of Argentina (+32,241,597) and Brazil (+29,774,105).
![Erling Haaland surpassed 72 million Instagram followers during the World Cup. [MichaelEmilio | Wikimedia Commons]](http://ourdailynewsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Untitled-design348.png)
Spain’s Stars Cash In Late, But Haaland’s Empire Keeps Growing
While Haaland dominated the full-tournament numbers, the closing days belonged largely to Spain. Yamal led all players from the Semi-Finals through the Final, adding 3,959,686 new followers (+8.1%) to hit 52,831,797, worth an estimated $528,318 (£415,998 / €484,679) per post. Bellingham was close behind with 3,756,930 new followers (+7.6%).
Ferran Torres, who scored the winning goal in the Final, showed just how fast a single moment can spike a following. He added 1,046,464 new followers in the four days following the Semi-Finals alone, part of a full-tournament gain of 1,630,067 followers (+21.9%), pushing his total to 9,076,837. “Spain’s Ferran Torres, who scored the winning goal in the Final, added over 1 million new followers in that same window alone, a reminder of just how quickly a single moment on the pitch can translate into a following of this size,” the spokesperson said.
Spain led all nations in the closing stretch with +8,681,908 new followers, ahead of Argentina (+7,610,729), England (+5,801,215), and Norway (+3,020,637), with Haaland once again accounting for the bulk of Norway’s late total.
Beyond the headline names, several relative unknowns posted massive percentage gains across the full tournament, including Brazil’s Douglas Santos (+1,276.7%), Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral (+1,154.1%), Curaçao’s Eloy Room (+1,144.3%), Egypt’s Mostafa Ziko (+1,063.2%), and Cape Verde’s Diney Borges (+1,060.1%).
The spokesperson summed up the tournament’s broader social media story: “Douglas Santos, Eloy Room, Mostafa Ziko, Sidny Lopes Cabral — none of them arrived at this World Cup as household names, and all of them are leaving it with followings several multiples the size they started with. That’s the story of this tournament as much as any of the football was.”
For Haaland, the World Cup didn’t just add another trophy chase to his résumé — it built him a social media empire to match his game.
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