The web is awash with would-be stars, 15-minute famers and opinion dispensers seeking to trip on the coat-tails of the attractive sport.
However amid all this noise, solely a small proportion actually minimize via as bona fide soccer influencers. This Every day Mail Sport energy checklist seeks to spotlight these people: essentially the most entertaining, essentially the most ground-breaking, essentially the most agenda-setting.
However earlier than we dive in, some floor guidelines about who’s eligible.
Firstly, anyone who’s nearer recognized as a journalist doesn’t meet the admittedly relatively nebulous class of ‘influencer’. Secondly, no one who was named on our subsequent era of TV sports activities presenters is allowed in – apologies to any followers of Nieve Petruzziello. Lastly, anybody related to a preferred non-football-specific troupe, such because the Sidemen, is off limits.
What we do need is expertise and affect. Individuals who lead the dialog in no matter group they’re a part of. Some intention for a broader market whereas others are nailing a distinct segment. With out additional ado, let’s dive in…
15. Abigail Rudkin
Follower depend: 135,000 (X 73k, Instagram 37k (two accounts), TikTok 25k)
Rudkin is well-known among the many Liverpool fan group and brings a expertise to this checklist that no one else does.
Alongside main the dialog on The Redmen TV, The Anfield Wrap, That is Anfield, Sky Sports activities, the BBC and even the membership’s personal official channels, she blesses the Liverpool fan group together with her paintings.
Her dab hand with the paintbrush noticed Rudkin invited to create Jurgen Klopp’s leaving current by the Reds, a present which introduced tears to his eyes (and never in a foul manner!).
Anybody who tunes in to the raft of Liverpool reveals and podcasts earlier than or after video games will know her voice and skilled capability to get throughout how followers within the stands are feeling. She has additionally been an outspoken voice in opposition to sexism on matchdays, exposing how far the sport and society nonetheless has to go to stamp out the abuse.
Her give attention to one membership does restrict her ‘affect’ throughout the soccer spectrum – your common Arsenal or Newcastle fan probably is not acquainted with her work – however when it comes to tapping into one group, the artwork virtuosa and analyst is doing properly.
Abigail Rudkin has impressed Liverpool followers together with her paintings and clued-up commentary
She has additionally been an outspoken voice in opposition to sexism on matchdays, exposing how far the sport and society nonetheless has to go to stamp out the abuse
14. Gabriel Sutton
Follower depend: 45.5k (X 36k, TikTok 7k, YouTube 2.5k)
The voice of knowledge on the English Soccer League. You will be hard-pressed to seek out many individuals extra educated in regards to the EFL and capable of join with all 72 of its fanbases.
Do not be fooled by Sutton’s comparatively minor social media following and lack of scorching seaside selfies. You will not discover him posing on the purple carpet however you will see that him doing diligent rounds of podcasts, X Areas and web sites, capable of pluck out an hour’s value of sage evaluation on Barnet, Port Vale or Bromley at a second’s discover.
There’s in all probability no one on this checklist extra revered by their viewers. There are not any fast wins with Sutton, no inflammatory remarks for the sake of content material, simply measured opinions and an amiable method about him. His followers admire it and over a decade he has constructed up a popularity because the EFL’s savant.
Gabriel Sutton has change into one of the vital revered names in EFL social media punditry
13. Rose Ruland
Follower depend: 412.5k (TikTok 168k, Instagram 119k, Twitch 59k, YouTube 42.5k, X 24k)
The one American to interrupt into this rating and one half of our first energy couple. Ruland is turning into extra identified to British followers for her relationship with YouTuber Ellis Platten however she has constructed her popularity in her personal proper.
She began out as a gaming streamer however has transitioned to soccer content material and nails the ‘outsider trying in’ position, making her a great comply with for followers who’re simply coming to the game. Plenty of her content material centres on her experiencing points of British soccer tradition for the primary time.
Rose has additionally had some distinctive concepts, similar to attempting out footballer’s favorite eating places (trace: Cole Palmer has higher style than Cristiano Ronaldo). Different light-hearted efforts embrace taking 50 photographs at aim sober after which drunk. To not be tried at house, if you wish to protect your home windows.
Rose Ruland has made a dent introducing American followers to British soccer tradition
She began out as a streamer, in addition to posting way of life content material, however now works on soccer
12. Ellis Platten
Follower depend: 859k (YouTube 558k, Instagram 105k, TikTok 103k, X 93k)
Platten’s thirst for soccer journey at all times impresses. Watching matches within the Amazon. Attending essentially the most infamous derbies. You get the image. And typically it will get him in tight spots. In 2022, at Croatia’s Everlasting Derby between Dinamo Zagreb v Hajduk Cut up, he was attacked by ultras.
It is exactly that daring spirit which has helped Platten construct a military of followers. However what began out as a channel pitching up at random video games in his teenage years has snowballed into a various homage to the attractive sport.
Up to now 12 months he is shone a light-weight on a few of the sport’s most troubled golf equipment and fanbases. He is additionally snagged some star-studded names on his ‘searching for basic soccer shirts’ sequence: Pierre Gasly, Giorgio Chiellini and most lately Arsenal’s Mikel Merino, to call just a few.
It has been refreshing to see him department out into different varieties of content material – not simply ‘I visited this INSANE derby’ – and present his appreciable knack for interviewing.
Ellis Platten has made a reputation for himself together with his AwayDays model and by interviewing footballers about their favorite basic shirts
He’s in an influencer energy couple with Ruland and the pair’s enthusiasm for soccer shines via of their content material
11. Karel Prince
Follower depend: 107k (Instagram 57k, TikTok 50k)
Karel Prince, come to the stage, entrance and centre!
Few have made a reputation for themselves in soccer extra successfully than Prince this 12 months, no less than off the pitch. This man has single-handedly launched a whole style and slapped his figurative trademark on it.
Gamers and ex-pros throughout the land are quaking of their boots on the prospect of being known as out on their fibs by Prince. If you have not seen his movies, he specialises in figuring out when footballers have advised porky pies on podcasts; Lee Clark saying he had confronted Zinedine Zidane, for instance, when he by no means had.
Individuals assume he has simply burst onto the scene. However Prince has received the hearts of Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher and at last made his identify after nearly a decade of laborious work. His ‘HMRC of Soccer Podcasts’ sequence is up for Social Media of the Yr on the Soccer Supporters’ Affiliation Awards.
The likes of Maya Jama, Alan Shearer and John Terry have been thrilled to fulfill him at a latest Baller League occasion. His humility, good nature, and keenness stand out. Are there many extra universally preferred content material creators in soccer proper now?
One other query that he’ll have to consider is: how can he take this additional?
Karel Prince has been an enormous hit with soccer stars together with Ian Wright and Alan Shearer
10. Spencer Owen
Follower depend: 3.532 million (YouTube 1.93 million, Instagram 693k, X 586k, Twitch 235k, TikTok 88k)
Owen wants an enormous 12 months. The Essex entrepreneur lately introduced the launch of Hashtag Allstars – an exhibition workforce which harks again to the free-spirited beginnings of Hashtag United. You’re feeling it must work.
There was a time when his Hashtag undertaking, based in March 2016 and taking over anybody who would face them, felt just like the quirkiest factor in soccer.
Now they’re marooned within the seventh tier. Common crowds are a league-low of round 200. No person finds hashtags that edgy anymore. The progress has stalled and Spencer’s private model, now a bit quaint, could profit from a refresh.
He definitely has the expertise and persona to compete in opposition to the new-age influencers. He nonetheless has an enormous viewers and is an enthralling promote to advertisers. However he has ceded floor to his youthful rivals. Internet hosting a mass-market podcast known as Web Dads alongside Rory Jennings has not helped his enchantment on the playground.
If we revisited this checklist in a 12 months’s time, he may very well be an enormous climber or drop off it completely relying on how the Allstars enterprise goes. However make no mistake, Owen is likely one of the originals and pushed the boat out earlier than most had the braveness to take action.
Spencer Owen’s Hashtag United have misplaced their novelty however he hopes a brand new undertaking paying homage to their roots can pay dividends
9. Thogden
Follower depend: 3.723 million (YouTube 2.28 million, Instagram 684k, TikTok 603.7k, X 155.5k)
Thogden (Theo Ogden) is that pal in your Instagram who, barely annoyingly, has a seat in any respect the largest occasions. Identify any of essentially the most iconic matches in latest historical past – whether or not that is World Cup finals, England video games, Champions League clashes or feverish South American showdowns – and chances are high Thogden was at it, digital camera in a single hand and a pint within the different.
Endearingly, a lot of his movies characteristic his dad, Stephen, who is nearly as obsessed with soccer as him. They like to get in among the many followers and provides a extremely uncooked view from the stands.
He is additionally acquired a popularity for being a little bit of a clown, trolling individuals every time he can. He lately swanned round Madrid and London with Jude Bellingham’s official physique double to idiot followers and it makes you’re feeling fortunate you do not have a star lookalike, such was the extent of unthinking clamour from shameless grown adults.
This Bolton fan can flip his hand to something, whether or not it is short-form or long-form, and his impression has helped him rub shoulders with soccer’s elite, together with his hero Lionel Messi.
Thogden and his dad Stephen are fascinated by international soccer fan tradition
He someway has a seat at each large event and has rubbed shoulders with the best – together with Lionel Messi
8. Rory Jennings
Follower depend: 521,000 (YouTube 307k, X 104k, Instagram 62k, TikTok 48k)
There are few speaking heads in soccer extra incendiary than Jennings. The previous EastEnders actor turned Sky Sports activities and talkSPORT firebrand can at all times be counted on to trigger shockwaves throughout social media.
One in every of his latest hits, for instance: James Maddison is a ‘bog-standard’ Premier League footballer who’s extra involved about YouTube and would not rating sufficient to warrant his personal celebration. Jennings has a Spidey-sense for figuring out the place the fault traces lie in soccer and exploiting them.
And to his credit score, contemplating the variety of points he’s requested to have a stance on, he argues his factors articulately. His output on YouTube is a number of opinion-rammed movies per week. Agree or disagree, he is an interesting pay attention and has a broad data base.
Rory Jennings is a rapid-fire dispenser of sizzling takes who is aware of the place soccer’s fault traces lie
7. ChrisMD
Follower depend: 9.11 million (YouTube 6.31 million, Instagram 1.7 million, TikTok 1.1 million)
Fifteen years after launching his YouTube channel and ChrisMD – aka Chris Michael Dixon – continues to entertain by pushing boundaries.
This 12 months, he is been scoring volleys from balls dropped by helicopters, pitting gamers of all ages between 16 and 40 in opposition to one another to win £10,000 and testing the utmost variety of goalkeepers he can rating previous without delay.
He is a straightforward watch and an affable chap who most younger soccer followers know. What’s extra, he places his platform to good use, collaborating recurrently in Sidemen Charity Video games and elevating cash through the Covid-19 pandemic.
A battle for Chris could also be conquering the short-form area. His legacy is 20-minute challenges on YouTube – the equal of epic cinema for the eye spans of immediately’s phone-addled youth. However his Instagram short-form work is sparse and his TikTok path is usually clips derived from his longer movies. His YouTube sport is powerful however he could must diversify to maintain up together with his rivals.
ChrisMD is thought for his distinctive soccer challenges, similar to attempting to attain volleys from balls dropped out of a helicopter
His subsequent battle could also be to cement his standing within the short-form area, having thrived on YouTube
6. AngryGinge
Follower depend: 5.924 million (TikTok 2 million, Instagram 1.4 million, Twitch 1.4 million, Youtube 893k, X 231k)
AngryGinge – actual identify Morgan Burtwistle – is ready to faucet into the Gen Z market because of his not-so-hidden weapon: relatability. You could possibly think about having a chinwag in him within the queue for McDonald’s fries at 2am.
And that is a praise. The Salford lad, 24, carries with him a cheeky chappy, down-to-earth, northern attraction which endears him as a lot to the general public as to his baby-faced streaming viewers. Appearances in Soccer Support and now I am A Movie star vouch for that.
He is identified for filming himself enjoying video video games, full with unhinged (usually sweary) reactions and a brotherly connection together with his viewers. That pastime led to him managing his personal real-life soccer workforce on YouTube, Winton Wanderers U18 Yanited, and infiltrating the Premier League world. He lately sat with Maddison for Tottenham’s 2-2 thriller with Manchester United. Oh, and he is a supervisor within the Baller League.
Burtwistle falls on the leisure finish of our spectrum relatively than opinion, and it is for that motive that his prospects look so broad. What’s subsequent? Strictly?
AngryGinge has damaged into the mainstream – even being invited into the superstar jungle
5. John Nellis
Follower depend: 14.25 million (YouTube 11.7 million TikTok 1.7 million, Instagram 822k, X 28k)
Nellis is likely one of the kings of soccer content material creation. His viewers numbers are staggering, his output prolific, his concepts contemporary. Twenty of his movies have exceeded 100 million views.
The Northern Irish content material creator has cultivated a loyal following via his enthusiasm and creativity. His model isn’t constructed on in search of to divide, however to carry soccer followers collectively.
A few of his ingenious efforts embrace faking his manner into managing a workforce alongside Arsene Wenger, cooking a steak within the stands and pranking American soccer followers with a ‘lookalike’ of Lionel Messi. You would possibly name him the MrBeast of soccer.
The accolades have rolled in. In 2024 he was awarded the TikTok Sports activities Content material Creator of the Yr, and on two events he has had essentially the most considered video of the week on YouTube.
His work has earned him a ‘good to fulfill you’ from Lionel Messi and a hug with Cristiano Ronaldo. Not many can say they’ve penetrated the higher echelons of the sport.
John Nellis’ viral soccer movies – together with spending 100 hours attempting to fulfill Cristiano Ronaldo – put him on the vanguard of contemporary creators
He carries out quirky experiments, similar to attempting to prepare dinner a steak within the stands throughout a match
4. Robbie Lyle
Follower depend: 5.143 million (Instagram 146k, X 26.7k, TikTok 21.3k) + (AFTV: YouTube 1.78m, Instagram 1.2 million, TikTok 1 million, X 969k)
Lyle’s award-winning AFTV model has amassed billions of views since launching in 2012. The mogul of Arsenal fan media has confirmed a shrewd operator capable of reinvent himself and the organisation he runs.
Their bread and butter is fan response after matches (helped by Lee Judges’ explosive, spluttering rants) however their pre and post-game discussions are genuinely informative.
What makes Lyle stand out is his wider impression. Individuals take heed to him – and never simply Arsenal followers. His 2020 documentary about racism in soccer, Soccer Followers: Underneath Their Pores and skin, was eye-opening and shifting. The scene the place Rene Carayol spoke of his father being spat on at a sport, not saying a phrase, and leaving at half-time was devastating.
Robbie additionally does the light-hearted stuff equally properly and his vary is what has made him one of the vital recognisable and authoritative soccer influencers. An elder statesman of the craft.
Robbie Lyle has received awards for his AFTV model and given a voice to Arsenal followers
3. IShowSpeed
Follower depend: 134.8 million (YouTube 45.7 million, TikTok 43.9 million, Instagram 42.6 million, Twitch 2.6 million)
Love him or hate him, IShowSpeed has the youth in thrall. No person right here comes near Pace – actual identify Darren Jason Watkins Jr – when it comes to uncooked attain.
His dramatic persona has rankled many. From whipping Mark Clattenburg together with his shirt in a charity sport, to barking at individuals any likelihood he will get, and making offensive feedback to ladies, his behaviour is at greatest brash and at worst downright impolite. Fairly just a few individuals have been happy to see him get destroyed by Bron Breakker at Royal Rumble 2025.
However with each particular person comes gentle and shade, and to his credit score Pace has proven himself to have an overflowing ardour for the sport which makes his content material an… absorbing watch, if we are able to put it that manner. His ‘Siuuu’ imitation of his hero Cristiano Ronaldo is tough to flee.
Footballers have warmed to him. Ronaldo lately taught him learn how to do a Viking clap. Alejandro Garnacho had him as a particular visitor at Manchester United’s 2024 FA Cup celebration. In Might, he celebrated with Paris Saint-Germain’s gamers on the pitch after they received the Champions League. His stage of entry is astonishing.
He is not going wherever. The one threat is that he diversifies an excessive amount of – more and more, Pace’s content material is not even associated to soccer, and plenty of his vitality this 12 months has been spent producing rap movies. Maybe the pull of dominating the web extra broadly, for higher or worse, will dilute the grip he has had on soccer’s nook of social media. That selection sees him slip to 3rd.
Cristiano Ronaldo superfan IShowSpeed has been an unavoidable presence on social media
He has managed to infiltrate the soccer group, although his output this 12 months has been extra centered on rap
2. Celine Dept
Follower depend: 90 million (YouTube 66.7 million (two accounts) TikTok 18.5 million, Instagram 4.8 million)
Characterised by her infectious enthusiasm, Belgian baller Dept has constructed an immense following and lives the dream by having common contact with the sport’s elite.
Her content material is kind of just like ChrisMD’s, centering on soccer challenges. That has included enjoying video games with Manchester Metropolis’s stars, taking over Alexis Mac Allister in his personal backyard and difficult Thibaut Courtois in a reflexes competitors.
Identify a high footballer and there is each likelihood Dept has met them: Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe, Aitana Bonmati, Chloe Kelly, Jude Bellingham, Ronaldinho, Luka Modric, David Beckham… you get the purpose. What’s extra, they genuinely appear to take pleasure in spending time together with her and taking over no matter loopy process she has masterminded.
Remarkably, she solely began her influencer journey round two-and-a-half years in the past, beginning out doing viral video games alongside her boyfriend Michiel Callebaut, who may very well be on this checklist himself.
Dept’s vitality and positivity make her the proper match for what she does. She’s not a thought-leader within the sport or somebody who’s broadly quoted, however the numbers and novelty of her content material inform us all we have to know.
Celine Dept has captured the hearts of soccer followers around the globe together with her enthusiasm
The Belgian appears to take to each other with any of the legends and family names she meets
She is in a high-profile relationship with fellow soccer influencer Michiel Callebaut
1. Mark Goldbridge
Follower depend: 7.429 million (YouTube 4.431 million (throughout 4 channels), TikTok 1.2 million, X 1 million, Instagram 501k, Twitch 297,000)
Goldbridge is essentially the most seismic, agenda-setting identify on this checklist, any person who has influenced the interior workings of soccer itself.
Did he precipitate Garnacho’s downfall at Manchester United? Partially. Final 12 months, the Argentinian preferred two of Goldbridge’s tweets criticising the membership and Erik ten Hag for taking him off in opposition to Bournemouth. It wasn’t a very good look.
Goldbridge – a former policeman whose actual identify is Brent Di Cesare – additionally acquired demise threats after interviewing Rasmus Hojlund on his ‘The United Stand’ channel, whereas the Dane’s team-mates reportedly interrogated him after he agreed to speak to the often-critical YouTuber.
The rant-a-minute Crimson Devils watchalong streamer now has rights to twenty Bundesliga video games a season on YouTube, an experiment which hasn’t yielded big views thus far however has cemented him as a reputation the soccer authorities will flip to when they need additional attain.
Mark Goldbridge is essentially the most explosive identify on this checklist for his Manchester United rants
Few set the agenda fairly like him and he has been rewarded with Bundesliga streaming rights in an indication of his affect
His USP is, for essentially the most half, sitting in a chair and raging at United’s failures. His countless output of stay streams and reactions to the large information of the day spark memes, articles and rows on social media.
He is a grasp at this sport. Few have nailed the marmite determine fairly as properly. That landed him a talkSPORT present in 2022, although he has since left. Collaborating as a supervisor for Sidemen charity video games up to now has additionally helped to cement his identify amongst this group’s main lights.
Will his affect fade? In all probability not, no less than for so long as United are a colossal membership, or for so long as they’re struggling. For his model’s personal sake, Goldbridge might need they by no means win the league once more.
However there’s additionally one thing barely unhappy about the truth that when United do elevate the Premier League once more, Goldbridge’s work means he will not get to expertise it with anyone else, as an alternative confined to his chair and beholden to his stay stream, fist pumping the air and exclaiming ‘sure!’ in that unmistakable accent, questioning if he may need been there.
Perhaps influencing is not all glitz and glamour in any case.
Follower depend: 36.8k (X)
Mengem is, merely put, one of many best soccer storytellers of his period. His work with Copa90, notably the worldwide Derby Days sequence, has left an enduring impression on a era of younger soccer followers, transporting them by way of YouTube from their bedrooms to the sights, smells, and sounds of Buenos Aires, Istanbul and Seville.
He has had an indelible affect on soccer fandom in a manner no one else on this checklist has. Carry up considered one of his movies from a decade in the past to a bunch of followers of their 20 and 30s and they’ll probably nonetheless keep in mind it. However can anybody recall what most influencers printed on Instagram yesterday?
Eli continues to be going – his documentary sequence in Argentina launched earlier this 12 months garnered greater than two million views – although he is not on digital camera as steadily as he as soon as was.
The Australian may rank on this checklist if he launched his personal public Instagram or TikTok. The ‘influencer’ tag would not actually match, however he’s a documentarian of the best order who tells tales that the fast-food, short-form brigade by no means contact.
Eli Mengem made waves again within the ay for his Copa90 Derby Days documentaries
