One Billion. That’s how many World Cup-related posts, comments, and likes 220 million people on Facebook have made in the course of conversation since the tournament began on June 12. Engagement on Facebook around the knockout matches over the weekend pushed the overall interactions number over the 1 billion mark.



Facebook generally sees a large amount of conversation around sporting events, but the World Cup has proven to be a unique moment. Facebook’s data editors have never measured an event — sports or otherwise — that has topped a billion interactions.

On Saturday, more than 31 million people had 75 million interactions (posts, comments, and likes) related to the match between Brazil and Chile. The nail biter saw the second-highest level of conversation for any World Cup match that Facebook’s data team has measured to date:

Brazil was also playing in the match that saw the highest level of Facebook conversation. 58 million people had more than 140 million interactions for the World Cup opener between Brazil and Croatia on June 12.

Brazilian players are driving Facebook engagement, too. This photo of Neymar and Hulk has over 2.5 Million likes and more than 70K shares, making it the most engaging post by any player during the World Cup:


Of the top 20 most-liked Facebook posts by World Cup athletes during the tournament, a combined 12 of them are by Brazilian teammates Neymar and David Luiz:

Top 20 Facebook player posts with the most likes:

Neymar – 7

David Luiz – 5

Leo Messi – 4

Cristiano Ronaldo – 3

Bastian Schweinsteiger – 1

Eleven player posts have more than a million likes:

Neymar – 7

Leo Messi – 3

Cristiano Ronaldo – 1

Facebook data releases for World Cup:


Facebook’s data team looked at the volume of global conversation around the entire World Cup Group Stage, from June 12-26, along with the most social matches, most social goals, countries, and most-talked-about players.

Globally, more than 200 million people had more than 815 million Facebook interactions (posts, comments, and likes) related to the World Cup Group Stage matches from June 12-26.



Top 10 “most social” matches:

1) Brazil vs. Croatia, Group A, June 12th

2) Germany vs. Portugal, Group G, June 16th

3) Cameroon vs. Brazil, Group A, June 23rd

4) USA vs. Portugal, Group G, June 22nd

5) Brazil vs. Mexico, Group A, June 17th

6) Croatia vs. Mexico, Group A, June 23rd

7) Italy vs. Uruguay, Group D, June 24th

8) Uruguay vs. England, Group D, June 19th

9) USA vs. Ghana, Group G, June 16th

10) Argentina vs. Iran, Group F, June 21st

Top 10 most “social” goals based on those global peak moments – literally, the World Cup goals that generated the most “gooooaaaals” in posts and comments: 1. Javier “Chicharito” Hernández seals Mexico’s win over Croatia with a goal to make it 3-0 (June 23rd)

2. Neymar Jr. scores his first World Cup goal, bringing Brazil level with Croatia 1-1 in the tournament opener (June 12th)

3. Neymar Jr. scores in the 17th minute to give Brazil a 1-0 lead over Cameroon (June 23rd)

4. Neymar Jr. converts the questionably-awarded penalty kick to give Brazil a 2-1 lead over Croatia (June 12th)

5. Neymar Jr. nets his second goal against Cameroon, restoring Brazil’s lead 2-1 (June 23rd)

6. Andrés Guardado doubles Mexico’s lead over Croatia 2-0 minutes after they opened the scoring (June 23)

7. Captain Rafa Marquez puts in a header off a corner kick to give Mexico a 1-0 lead over Croatia (June 23rd)

8. Fernandino scores Brazil’s fourth goal against Cameroon (June 23rd)

9. Fred scores to give Brazil a 3-1 lead over Cameroon (June 23rd)

10. Diego Godin scores against Italy to give Uruguay a 1-0 lead and send them through to the round of 16 (June 24th)

Top 10 countries where people were having conversations about the World Cup during the Group Stage: 1. Brazil

2. United States

3. Great Britain

4. Indonesia

5. India

6. Mexico

7. France

8. Venezuela

9. Argentina

10. Germany Advertisement Top 10 most-talked-about players during the Group Stage: 1. Neymar

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

3. Leo Messi

4. Luis Suarez

5. Oscar

6. Mario Balotelli

7. Thomas Müller

8. Guillermo Ochoa

9. Wayne Rooney

10. Mesut Özil

Note: Neymar alone captured 30% of the conversation around individual players. Neymar and Ronaldo together made up 52%.