It is very difficult to say who the most marketable player in the world is. Neymar, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?

Before starting the post, I would like to thank you for being here and I hope that you will find value in this post and the upcoming posts as well.

It is very difficult to say who the most marketable player in the world is. During the online course “Football Marketing & Management” by Sports Business Institute of Barcelona (SBI) in which I participated, me and my fellow classmates were asked to share our opinion about who the most marketable player in the world of football is and why.

In order to find the answer (which is presented at the bottom line of this post) and to stand up for it, I created a model in which I set and analysed several criteria concerning who the most marketable football player in the world is.

Model & Methodology

I set different importance to each criterion and, based on my analysis, I graded each player in a “1 to 5 ascending scale” model for his performance in each one of them. Certainly, the model and the methodology are highly simplified but this approach helped me to reach to a decision (which is presented at the bottom line of this text) and to stand up for it.

Criteria & Analysis

Age / Potential / Appeal
Criterion Importance: 5
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/15/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/15/60%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/25/100%
Neymar (23). He definitely has the higher potential as he is younger than Messi (28) and Cristiano Ronaldo (30). Of course, Messi’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s peak is so high that we cannot be sure that Neymar will reach it. His age helps him also to be closer to the millennials which are the biggest challenge for every marketer to be understood and “exploited”. They are getting more engaged with everything and they are the future anyway. Millennial boys and girls definitely love Neymar. Also, Neymar is not as much exploited as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo yet. Nothing lasts forever, fans and people are generally very demanding and they tend to change their idols sooner or later. Maybe it is time for Neymar to replace the other two lads.

Global awareness / Other Markets (China / Gulf / US / India)
Criterion Importance: 5
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/25/100%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/25/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/25/100%
Tie. Massive and relatively new markets in football. Unpredictable. It seems that these massive markets are following the trends of the more traditional ones. Everyone knows that the future is there. No one is going to ignore their power.

National Team Achievements
Criterion Importance: 4
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/12/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 2/8/40%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/20/100%
Neymar. None of them have managed to “grab his national team’s hand” and lead it to a great success. Even Argentina’s 2nd place during the last World Cup (2014) was not a result of Messi’s performances. During the next World Cup (2018), Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not going to be at the peak of their play, but Neymar’s chances to achieve something that will definitely boost his marketability are far greater because of Brazil’s football power and because of his age.

Use of Social Media and Reach
Criterion Importance: 4
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 2/8/40%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/20/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 4/16/80%
Cristiano Ronaldo. He has the “know-how”. His activities are reaching more screens than Neymar’s and Messi’s. He has the most followers and he shares more of his moments than the other two.

“Out of Football” Attitude
Criterion Importance: 4
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 2/8/40%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/20/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 4/16/80%
Cristiano Ronaldo. His Marketing moves, his movie, his temperament, his love for publicity, his lifestyle. He is a superstar outside of the pitch as well. Messi is a family guy, Neymar is not at Cristiano Ronaldo’s level yet and he will be able to reach or overpass Cristiano Ronaldo only if he does everything perfect.

Willingness to be involved
Criterion Importance: 4
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 4/16/80%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/20/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/20/100%
Everyone wants to be involved because sponsorships are a great extra revenue for them. Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar are more willing to be involved in this kind of co-operations for money but also for fame. It is a part of their lifestyle.

Nationality
Criterion Importance: 3
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/9/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 1/3/20%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/15/100%
Neymar. All three countries are traditional football countries. Almost every fan has the predisposition to support and follow domestic players first. Brazil’s population is around 200 mil. when Argentina’s and Portugal’s are 41,5 mil. and 10,5 mil. respectively.

Character / Personality / Discipline
Criterion Importance: 3
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/15/100%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 4/12/80%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/9/60%
Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo has the greater personality. Neymar shows some immaturity in many matters and reactions. Messi has the stronger character and this makes him more appropriate for an investor who does not want to risk. On the other hand of course, it is a fact that the higher the risk, the higher the profit.

Current and Former Football Clubs
Criterion Importance: 3
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/9/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/15/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/9/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid are great brands. I think that Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence in Manchester United (which is another great brand with huge awareness globally) and the proven support the Red Devils’ fans still provide to him helps Cristiano Ronaldo to be more popular than the two Barcelona superstars.

Female Population
Criterion Importance: 3
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 2/6/40%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/15/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 4/12/80%
Cristiano Ronaldo. He has enormous appeal and massive acceptance through the female population. Messi? Hmm not really. Neymar? His style is attractive for younger ages mostly and I think that he loses when it comes to older ages.

Players’ Sponsorship Current Activity / Value for Money
Criterion Importance: 2
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/6/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/6/60%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/6/60%
Tie. All of them have already many serious sponsorship deals. Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi have certainly some more deals achieved than Neymar so they are already “booked” in many product categories. But Neymar follows in a very dynamic way as well. So it is not only if you want to invest on someone’s brand, but also if you can do it.

Accusations (Law, Behavior, etc.)
Criterion Importance: 2
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/6/60%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/6/60%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 3/6/60%
Tie. Messi has problems with his taxes. Neymar has problems with undisclosed fees from his transfer which may affect his career. Cristiano Ronaldo has not something really big on his name (yet). But sometimes, negative advertising is more effective than positive.

“After End of Career” Marketing
Criterion Importance: 2
Messi Grade/Score/Percentage: 2/4/40%
Cristiano Ronaldo Grade/Score/Percentage: 5/10/100%
Neymar Grade/Score/Percentage: 4/8/80%
Cristiano Ronaldo. He is a superstar and he is definitely going to stay active. Messi seems too quiet to stay active when he will not be running with the ball and scoring hat-tricks. It is too early yet to say about Neymar as we don’t know the trends 10 years later or who is going to be the next big thing (maybe Martial) and consequently his alter-ego but Cristiano Ronaldo has my vote here because he is a safer choice.

CONCLUSION

Messi Score/Percentage: 139/63%
Cristiano Ronaldo Score/Percentage: 175/80%
Neymar Score/Percentage: 187/85%
All of them are top values. For any company, all three players will be great ambassadors. Of course, every association between a corporate business and a player is unique and its success depends of many factors like its objective, the timing, the correlation between the brand’s and the player’s values and the unpredictable future of the player (there are many occasions where contract clauses cannot be applied). In general terms, Messi seems that he is not interested in enforcing his brand as much as Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo is doing and trying everything on this sector and he is considered as a benchmark for others already. Neymar is willing to do anything and has many years in front of him in order to achieve it. Every tangible or intangible thing can create a brand and every brand can become the most marketable on its category. It depends of the momentum, the market’s needs, the timing, the used marketing mix and techniques, the measurement method and so much more unpredictable factors.

It is very difficult to say who the most marketable player in the world is. If the time was freezing, I would have chosen Cristiano Ronaldo. But looking for someone that will last longer at top level from now and on and based on the above analysis, I would say that Neymar is the most marketable player in the world of football. My decision is the most risky (his international career now begins and there is also the possibility of a terrible injury or something else which we cannot predict) but at the end of the day “No Risk, No fun”! We need not to forget that football’s brand is getting more and more marketable day by day so Neymar will have a greater audience to conquer during the following years.

The pie is getting bigger and bigger, so an equal percentage share of the pie during the next years will be greater in absolute values…

Below you can find the statistical analysis of the criteria.