The Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo debate is eternal in the world of football, but now there is one thing the Portuguese star can claim about his Argentine counterpart: YouTube supremacy.
Ronaldo, who plays for Saudi Arabian Professional League club Al Nassr, launched his own channel on Wednesday and recorded the most successful YouTube channel launch in history, reaching 100,000 subscribers in 55 minutes and then one million subscribers in 90 minutes.
It didn’t take long for Ronaldo’s channel to surpass Messi’s subscriber count. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Inter Miami captain’s channel had 2.2 million subscribers, while Ronaldo’s had well over 6 million.
Messi, however, only has posted a video to the channel since September 1, 2021. Ronaldo launched his with 11 videos.
According to the channel’s launch announcement, the platform will give Ronaldo the opportunity to talk about football, his “greatest passion,” along with “his other interests including family, wellness, nutrition, coaching, recovery, education and business.”
Ronaldo’s channel may be growing quickly, but he’ll need some time if he plans to challenge Mr. Beast (311 million subscribers) for the most subscribers on YouTube.
Ronaldo, 39, is nearing the end of his illustrious football career, which has seen him win seven league titles in England, Spain and Italy, as well as five Ballon d’Ors, among numerous other honours. He said in July that Euro 2024 would be his last with Portugal, but did not say whether he would represent his country at the 2026 World Cup.
