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Sports November 23, 2023
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung

The Most-followed Sports Teams On Instagram

Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images
Of the 20 most followed sports teams on Instagram, European soccer leads the way with 15 clubs, led by Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s 8.07 billion people actively uses Instagram each month. It’s just a mind-boggling number.

Launched in 2010, Instagram’s 2 billion active monthly users is tied with fellow Meta brand WhatsApp for third place among the most popular social networks behind YouTube and Facebook. Instagram’s influence is everywhere in the sports, business, and entertainment universe, with Merriam-Webster adding “influencer” to its dictionary in 2019 to describe the IG-driven phenomenon.

Sports teams have caught on to Insta’s ability to reach, connect, and interact with fans from around the world. Here are the globe’s 20 most popular sports teams on Instagram, with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona positively lapping the field.

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Most Followed Sports Teams on Instagram

TeamFollowers
Real Madrid149 million
FC Barcelona124 million
Paris Saint-Germain65.7 million
Manchester United63.1 million
Juventus59.8 million
Manchester City49.4 million
Liverpool43.6 million
Chelsea41.4 million
Bayern Munich40.8 million
Golden State Warriors32.1 million
Arsenal28.2 million
Los Angeles Lakers23.6 million
Borussia Dortmund19.3 million
Cleveland Cavaliers16.5 million
Tottenham Hotspur16.5 million
Atlético Madrid16.3 million
Inter Miami15.4 million
AC Milan15.3 million
Galatasaray14.4 million
Mumbai Indians13 million

Only five of the 20 top IG sports teams aren’t European soccer clubs. The Warriors lead the way, with LeBron James‘ current and former clubs — the Lakers and Cavs — behind them. PSG has actually lost followers since Lionel Messi left for Inter Miami, which cracks the top 20 and has more followers than the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and New England Patriots combined. An Indian cricket team rounds out the top 20, with Mumbai’s club barely edging out the Chennai Super Kings, which has 12.9 million followers.

The Business Behind El Clásico
Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are by far the most followed IG teams. Boardroom dives into their historic rivalry.
Check it out!

Other League Leaders

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Shlomo Sprung

Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.

soccerReal MadridBarcelonaGolden State WarriorsInter Miami
About The Author
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.