U.S., 20 July 2026 – Meta has revealed that the 2026 World Cup, which concluded on Sunday, became one of the biggest moments in the company’s history, recording billions of interactions across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Threads as fans worldwide followed the tournament.
The company said on Monday that its social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Threads and Instagram, generated record-breaking conversations and engagement, surpassing records set in previous editions of the tournament.
The tech giant said that during the round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt, WhatsApp reached an all-time high after recording more than 29 million messages per second, overtaking the previous record set during the 2022 final.
This year’s World Cup also drove significant growth for players on Instagram, with members of the final squads collectively gaining 213.6 million new followers between June 11 and July 11.
The company says that the combined followership of players increased from 3.26 billion to 3.47 billion, accounting for a 6.6% rise during the tournament period.
Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha emerged as one of the biggest stars on the platform, with his Instagram following rising from just 37,000 to 28.8 million, a milestone that has been attributed to his impressive performance throughout the tournament.
His followership, which represented a nearly 77,000 % increase, helped Cape Verde’s squad to record a 32.1 million increase in followers.
For established football stars, Norway striker Erling Haaland recorded the biggest increase, gaining 23 million new followers as his team attracted global attention. On the other hand, Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, already the most-followed individual on Instagram, added another 10 million followers to reach 676 million.
The company says that the most popular players appearing in Instagram’s “Your Algorithm” recommendations among United States users during the tournament included Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham.
Young stars also experienced a substantial growth on the platform. Instagram followers of Brazil’s Endrick increased from 18.7 million to 23.8 million, while Bellingham gained 4.2 million followers to reach 45.5 million. Michael Olise, Lamine Yamal and Vinicius Jr also attracted new followers.
National teams also recorded major gains, with Mexico leading among major football nations after its players collectively gained 20.8 million followers, Brazil added 26 million followers, boosted by stars such as Neymar, Endrick and Vinicius Jr, while Argentina gained 18.4 million followers, driven by continued global interest in Messi, who is the second most followed individual on Instagram.
On the other hand, posts linked to the World Cup on Threads generated 1.5 billion impressions, with football-related content reaching about 15 million people daily and peaking at 25 million users on July 6.
Facebook also recorded significant engagement, with users publishing more than 80 million posts mentioning the World Cup since the beginning of the tournament.
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