Battle of World Cup social media 'likes'

The Golden Ball and Golden Boot are the coveted individual awards of the World Cup, but who will win the unofficial competition to snag the most social media "likes" during the tournament?

More than eight billion digital interactions are expected during the FIFA World Cup in Russia, equal to every person in the world liking content or commenting on social media.

With more than 128 million followers on Instagram, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed World Cup player and is a strong contender for most popular post.

A ranking tool has been launched which provides users with daily information on the most popular Instagram content from every player and coach participating in the 2018 World Cup by group, nation or worldwide.

More than one billion people follow World Cup players on the social media platform, say Primetag, the developer of the software.

Five-times winners Brazil are the most followed team in the tournament with a cool 192 million combined followers.

Tim Cahill is the most popular Socceroo on the platform, with more than 344,000 followers.

THE 10 MOST FOLLOWED SOCCER PLAYERS ON INSTAGRAM

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal - 128,461,841 followers

2. Neymar, Brazil - 94,239,666

3. Lionel Messi, Argentina - 92,802,383

4. James Rodriguez, Colombia - 37,023,859

5. Luis Suarez, Uruguay - 27,812,864

6. Marcelo, Brazil - 25,971,366

7. Sergio Ramos, Spain - 24,132,768

8. Andres Iniesta, Spain - 23,334,347

9. Paul Pogba, France - 23,089,981

10. Toni Kroos, Germany - 17,559,098