In the end, after so much suffering, the European Cup has arrived in Italy. At the beginning of the tournament the bookmakers gave France or England winners and few had focused on the potential of our national team, a starless team with dazzling brightness and a shy coach who allows little space for chatter and appearance.
A portrait that emerges clearly analyzing social profiles of the pre-victory blue team.
The analysis
The # Euro2020Final seen by social networks
by Pier Luca Santoro
His Instagram, the only social media where everyone is present, the feeds of the European champions are very similar, covered with snapshots of the league matches and accompanied by a phrase of circumstance. Every now and then check the photo imposed by the sponsor or peep a moment of relaxation with the family, punctuated by sugary emoticons. All in the norm of the classic profile managed DIY by a good footballer or carefully tamed by a freelance social media manager.
In the eyes of a non-football fan, all rather boring: they are profiles of atypical players, who give themselves few airs, who do not abandon themselves to excesses, who do not pose as influencers.
The European pre-competition numbers were high only for those who have played in important teams. Marco Verratti, with over 5.3 million followers, was the one who could boast the largest following on Instagram, a consequence of belonging to Paris Saint-Germain. In second and third place two Juventus players like Leonardo Bonucci (4.4 million) and Giorgio Chiellini (3.9 million). Of the 26 squad, only 10 exceeded a million followers and the coach Mancini stopped just under 600 thousand.
Also engagement values they weren’t mind-boggling, but normal: Verratti generated an average of 125,000 interactions for each post published, Bonucci 117,000 and Chiellini 181,000. These are numbers that, when compared to followers, show enormous potential to develop greater affection on the part of the fan base.
After first 5 games, which highlighted the qualities of the team, there are could have expected a flood of likes on social networks and an exponential growth of followers. Instead, according to the data collected with the tools of Buzzoole, only the least followed profiles grew by more than 50%, in order those of Pessina, Raspadori and Spinazzola.
England’s worst defeat at Euro 2020 was on social media
by Pier Luigi Pisa
It will be necessary wait until the day after the victory, because the Italians decide to reward their favorites: in terms of followers, the positions in the standings have not changed, but those who have grown the most, in absolute value, have been the faces that have marked this European. Federico Chiesa has collected almost 1.2 million followers more than at the start of the competition; Gianluigi Donnarumma 970 thousand and Bonucci 700 thousand. They have positioned themselves in the orbit of the 600 thousand Insigne, Spinazzola, Chiellini and Jorginho, while Mancini earned just under half a million.
The posts that had the much-desired Cup as their protagonist were full of likes: the post of Church kissing her has garnered over 1.3 million interactions, that of Bonucci that the door to bed liked over 1.2 million people, that of Donnarumma that squeezes her in the bus has just exceeded one million.
If there was a the critics’ prize, would be awarded to Matteo Pessina, who published an original format for a football player on Instagram: his serialized logbook to tell the facts and emotions of the European Championship.
We will see if the trophy won will change the attitude of these guys, if they will expose themselves more in search of a stronger bond with the public, if they acquire the typical traits of stars. What interests Italians is that they do so without losing sight of the next ambitious goal: the 2022 World Cup.
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