Short answer: Lionel Messi was second on Google in 2020 and kept that place in 2021, while Cristiano Ronaldo stayed first in both years. Neymar held third but lost ground, Kylian Mbappé rose to fourth and Christian Eriksen entered at fifth. In the 2027 list, based on data to October 2026, Ronaldo and Messi still lead and Mbappé is third.
Which footballers gained and lost attention on Google between 2020 and 2021? The short story: the top three did not change places, but behind them the list was reshuffled. Mbappé moved up one, Zlatan Ibrahimović slid from fourth to sixth, and a player who was not on the 2020 list at all, Christian Eriksen, arrived in fifth. Of the 100 names ranked in 2021, 78 were also ranked in 2020.
One caution applies to every number below, and it is the only time it is made. Each year is its own list, measured on its own scale with its own leader. Ronaldo is 100 in both, but the 100 in 2020 and the 100 in 2021 are not the same amount of interest, because Google Trends only compares names within one measurement. An index of 4.4 in 2020 and 4.4 in 2021 therefore does not mean equal attention. What can be compared is the rank, and how close a player was to that year’s leader.
The single-year lists are in 100 Most Searched Footballers on Google in 2020 and 100 Most Searched Football Players on Google in 2021. This post sets them side by side. Google does not publish search counts; Google Trends gives relative interest, with the year’s most searched name at 100.
Who rose and who fell between 2020 and 2021?
Only four players kept exactly the same rank in both years: Ronaldo (1st), Messi (2nd), Neymar (3rd) and Hirving Lozano (74th). Everyone else moved, and the largest movements are away from the top.
Biggest risers. Mason Mount went from 79th to 30th, a jump of 49 places, and Jorginho from 90th to 46th (44). Jesse Lingard rose 22 places (58th to 36th), Romelu Lukaku 21 (32nd to 11th), and Kevin De Bruyne ten (30th to 20th). Sergio Agüero went from 23rd to 10th, Mesut Özil from 26th to 15th and Karim Benzema from 22nd to 12th.
Biggest fallers. Serge Gnabry dropped from 48th to 91st (43 places), Adama Traoré from 19th to 57th (38) and Alphonso Davies from 36th to 70th (34). Luka Jović fell to 99th from 68th, and Roberto Firmino from 47th to 76th. Among the 2020 top ten, Luis Suárez went from 7th to 19th and Edinson Cavani from 8th to 21st, while Sadio Mané slipped from 18th to 40th.
New in 2021. Beyond Eriksen in fifth, the best-placed newcomers are Phil Foden (26th), Lorenzo Insigne (29th), Jérôme Boateng (32nd) and David Alaba (34th), then Ousmane Dembélé (37th) and Joshua Kimmich (52nd). Marcos Llorente (98th) is the last of the 22. Gone from the list: David Silva, 54th in 2020, is the highest-placed player who is not in the 2021 list, followed by Federico Valverde (71st) and Merih Demiral (72nd). Neto (Norberto Murara), the goalkeeper who was too small to measure in 2020, is also among the 20.
How do the three lists compare, player by player?
Players are ordered by their 2021 rank, followed by the 20 who appear only in 2020. A dash means the player is outside that year’s list. “Change” is the number of places gained (+) or lost (−).
| Player | 2020 rank | 2020 index | 2021 rank | 2021 index | Change | 2027 list rank | 2027 list index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 1 | 100.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 1 | 100.0 |
| Lionel Messi | 2 | 92.8 | 2 | 94.5 | 0 | 2 | 96.6 |
| Neymar | 3 | 46.4 | 3 | 32.3 | 0 | 5 | 36.5 |
| Kylian Mbappé | 5 | 15.2 | 4 | 25.3 | +1 | 3 | 42.4 |
| Christian Eriksen | — | — | 5 | 17.0 | new | — | — |
| Zlatan Ibrahimović | 4 | 17.8 | 6 | 12.6 | −2 | 21 | 5.1 |
| Sergio Ramos | 12 | 9.1 | 7 | 11.0 | +5 | 37 | 3.6 |
| Robert Lewandowski | 9 | 10.0 | 8 | 10.2 | +1 | 15 | 7.2 |
| Mohamed Salah | 6 | 12.8 | 9 | 9.4 | −3 | 8 | 14.7 |
| Sergio Agüero | 23 | 5.9 | 10 | 9.2 | +13 | — | — |
| Romelu Lukaku | 32 | 4.3 | 11 | 8.8 | +21 | 39 | 3.5 |
| Karim Benzema | 22 | 5.9 | 12 | 8.8 | +10 | 44 | 3.2 |
| Paul Pogba | 14 | 7.8 | 13 | 6.7 | +1 | 53 | 2.6 |
| Antoine Griezmann | 20 | 6.1 | 14 | 6.4 | +6 | 51 | 2.9 |
| Mesut Özil | 26 | 5.5 | 15 | 5.9 | +11 | 97 | 1.6 |
| Eden Hazard | 15 | 7.3 | 16 | 5.4 | −1 | 98 | 1.5 |
| Gareth Bale | 10 | 9.6 | 17 | 5.0 | −7 | 92 | 1.6 |
| Jadon Sancho | 13 | 8.2 | 18 | 4.8 | −5 | — | — |
| Luis Suárez | 7 | 12.7 | 19 | 4.8 | −12 | 19 | 6.0 |
| Kevin De Bruyne | 30 | 4.5 | 20 | 4.7 | +10 | 43 | 3.3 |
| Edinson Cavani | 8 | 10.3 | 21 | 4.4 | −13 | — | — |
| James Rodríguez | 16 | 7.2 | 22 | 4.4 | −6 | 47 | 3.0 |
| Gerard Piqué | 21 | 6.1 | 23 | 4.3 | −2 | 45 | 3.2 |
| Paulo Dybala | 11 | 9.5 | 24 | 4.3 | −13 | 59 | 2.4 |
| Memphis Depay | 35 | 3.7 | 25 | 4.2 | +10 | 60 | 2.4 |
| Phil Foden | — | — | 26 | 4.2 | new | 66 | 2.3 |
| Mauro Icardi | 40 | 3.3 | 27 | 4.0 | +13 | 61 | 2.4 |
| Bruno Fernandes | 17 | 7.0 | 28 | 3.5 | −11 | 34 | 3.8 |
| Lorenzo Insigne | — | — | 29 | 3.4 | new | — | — |
| Mason Mount | 79 | 1.2 | 30 | 3.3 | +49 | — | — |
| Gianluigi Buffon | 33 | 4.1 | 31 | 3.2 | +2 | — | — |
| Jérôme Boateng | — | — | 32 | 3.2 | new | — | — |
| Thomas Müller | 37 | 3.5 | 33 | 3.1 | +4 | 79 | 1.9 |
| David Alaba | — | — | 34 | 3.1 | new | — | — |
| Kai Havertz | 24 | 5.8 | 35 | 3.0 | −11 | 88 | 1.8 |
| Jesse Lingard | 58 | 2.2 | 36 | 2.9 | +22 | — | — |
| Ousmane Dembélé | — | — | 37 | 2.8 | new | 18 | 6.4 |
| Olivier Giroud | 42 | 3.2 | 38 | 2.8 | +4 | — | — |
| Manuel Neuer | 27 | 4.9 | 39 | 2.7 | −12 | 36 | 3.6 |
| Sadio Mané | 18 | 6.4 | 40 | 2.7 | −22 | 65 | 2.3 |
| Riyad Mahrez | 49 | 2.7 | 41 | 2.7 | +8 | — | — |
| Philippe Coutinho | 25 | 5.7 | 42 | 2.6 | −17 | — | — |
| Mario Balotelli | 31 | 4.5 | 43 | 2.6 | −12 | — | — |
| Luka Modrić | 52 | 2.7 | 44 | 2.5 | +8 | 22 | 5.0 |
| Toni Kroos | 44 | 2.9 | 45 | 2.4 | −1 | — | — |
| Jorginho | 90 | 0.9 | 46 | 2.3 | +44 | — | — |
| Marcelo | 38 | 3.4 | 47 | 2.3 | −9 | — | — |
| Ciro Immobile | 43 | 3.0 | 48 | 2.3 | −5 | — | — |
| Diego Costa | 61 | 2.1 | 49 | 2.2 | +12 | — | — |
| Harry Maguire | 45 | 2.9 | 50 | 2.2 | −5 | — | — |
| David Luiz | 66 | 1.9 | 51 | 2.2 | +15 | — | — |
| Joshua Kimmich | — | — | 52 | 2.2 | new | — | — |
| Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | 29 | 4.5 | 53 | 2.2 | −24 | — | — |
| Alexis Sánchez | 34 | 3.9 | 54 | 2.1 | −20 | — | — |
| Arturo Vidal | 28 | 4.8 | 55 | 2.1 | −27 | — | — |
| Frenkie de Jong | 51 | 2.7 | 56 | 2.0 | −5 | — | — |
| Adama Traoré | 19 | 6.4 | 57 | 2.0 | −38 | — | — |
| Lautaro Martínez | 41 | 3.3 | 58 | 1.9 | −17 | 58 | 2.4 |
| Christian Pulisic | 46 | 2.9 | 59 | 1.9 | −13 | 62 | 2.4 |
| Keylor Navas | 65 | 1.9 | 60 | 1.8 | +5 | — | — |
| Thibaut Courtois | 62 | 2.0 | 61 | 1.7 | +1 | 40 | 3.4 |
| David de Gea | 59 | 2.2 | 62 | 1.7 | −3 | — | — |
| Jamie Vardy | 53 | 2.7 | 63 | 1.6 | −10 | — | — |
| Thiago Silva | 39 | 3.4 | 64 | 1.6 | −25 | — | — |
| João Félix | — | — | 65 | 1.6 | new | 86 | 1.8 |
| Martin Braithwaite | 56 | 2.4 | 66 | 1.6 | −10 | — | — |
| Mats Hummels | — | — | 67 | 1.5 | new | — | — |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | 57 | 2.3 | 68 | 1.5 | −11 | 85 | 1.8 |
| Anthony Martial | 50 | 2.7 | 69 | 1.5 | −19 | — | — |
| Alphonso Davies | 36 | 3.6 | 70 | 1.4 | −34 | — | — |
| Diogo Jota | — | — | 71 | 1.4 | new | — | — |
| Marco Reus | 67 | 1.9 | 72 | 1.4 | −5 | — | — |
| Theo Hernández | — | — | 73 | 1.4 | new | — | — |
| Hirving Lozano | 74 | 1.3 | 74 | 1.4 | 0 | — | — |
| Lucas Hernández | 85 | 1.0 | 75 | 1.3 | +10 | — | — |
| Roberto Firmino | 47 | 2.8 | 76 | 1.3 | −29 | — | — |
| Douglas Costa | 69 | 1.6 | 77 | 1.3 | −8 | — | — |
| Tammy Abraham | 80 | 1.2 | 78 | 1.3 | +2 | — | — |
| Gabriel Jesus | 70 | 1.6 | 79 | 1.3 | −9 | 83 | 1.8 |
| Dani Olmo | — | — | 80 | 1.3 | new | — | — |
| Willian | 55 | 2.5 | 81 | 1.2 | −26 | — | — |
| Kingsley Coman | — | — | 82 | 1.2 | new | — | — |
| Renato Sanches | — | — | 83 | 1.2 | new | — | — |
| Matthijs de Ligt | 63 | 2.0 | 84 | 1.2 | −21 | — | — |
| Sergio Busquets | — | — | 85 | 1.2 | new | — | — |
| Isco | 64 | 2.0 | 86 | 1.1 | −22 | — | — |
| Dele Alli | 60 | 2.1 | 87 | 1.1 | −27 | — | — |
| Casemiro | 81 | 1.2 | 88 | 1.1 | −7 | 54 | 2.6 |
| Jordi Alba | — | — | 89 | 1.0 | new | — | — |
| Bernardo Silva | 88 | 0.9 | 90 | 1.0 | −2 | 56 | 2.5 |
| Serge Gnabry | 48 | 2.8 | 91 | 1.0 | −43 | — | — |
| Hugo Lloris | 83 | 1.1 | 92 | 1.0 | −9 | — | — |
| Marquinhos | — | — | 93 | 1.0 | new | — | — |
| Xavi Simons | — | — | 94 | 1.0 | new | — | — |
| Kyle Walker | — | — | 95 | 1.0 | new | — | — |
| Reece James | — | — | 96 | 0.9 | new | — | — |
| Aaron Ramsey | — | — | 97 | 0.9 | new | — | — |
| Marcos Llorente | — | — | 98 | 0.9 | new | — | — |
| Luka Jović | 68 | 1.7 | 99 | 0.9 | −31 | — | — |
| Pedro | 73 | 1.4 | 100 | 0.9 | −27 | — | — |
| David Silva | 54 | 2.5 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Federico Valverde | 71 | 1.5 | — | — | out | 42 | 3.3 |
| Merih Demiral | 72 | 1.4 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Emre Can | 75 | 1.3 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Rodrigo Moreno | 76 | 1.3 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Rodrygo | 77 | 1.3 | — | — | out | 71 | 2.1 |
| Riqui Puig | 78 | 1.3 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Ashley Young | 82 | 1.1 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Gabriel Martinelli | 84 | 1.1 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Mariano Díaz | 86 | 1.0 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Rafinha | 87 | 1.0 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Daniel Sturridge | 89 | 0.9 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Gervinho | 91 | 0.9 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Danilo | 92 | 0.7 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Teemu Pukki | 93 | 0.5 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Fernandinho | 94 | 0.5 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Emerson Palmieri | 95 | 0.4 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Ben Foster | 96 | 0.3 | — | — | out | — | — |
| James Garner | 97 | 0.1 | — | — | out | — | — |
| Neto (Norberto Murara) | 98 | <1 | — | — | out | — | — |
Who made the top ten in 2021, and how did they get there?
Cristiano Ronaldo: 1st in 2020, 1st in 2021
Ronaldo leads both lists. On 27 August 2021 Manchester United announced an agreement with Juventus for his transfer (Manchester United).
Lionel Messi: 2nd and 2nd
Same place, closer to the leader: he was 7.2 points behind Ronaldo in 2020 and 5.5 behind in 2021. On 5 August 2021 Barcelona announced that Messi would not be staying, citing LaLiga’s registration rules (FC Barcelona), and Paris Saint-Germain then announced his signing on a two-year contract (Ligue 1).
Neymar: 3rd and 3rd
Neymar’s rank is unchanged but the distance is not: he was at 46.4 per cent of the leader’s level in 2020 and at 32.3 in 2021. Neymar is the one player in the top three whose position relative to the leader got clearly worse.
Kylian Mbappé: 5th to 4th
The biggest relative rise in the top ten: from 15.2 to 25.3 on the leader scale, which brings him much closer to Neymar than a year before.
Christian Eriksen: new, 5th
He was not in the 2020 list. On 12 June 2021 he collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 group match against Finland in Copenhagen, received medical treatment and was taken to hospital, with the Danish FA later reporting him stable (UEFA). His 17.0 on the 2021 scale is the largest of any newcomer in the list, ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimović in sixth.
Zlatan Ibrahimović: 4th to 6th
Down two places, from 17.8 to 12.6 on the leader scale. In 2021 he is closer to Sergio Ramos (11.0) than to Eriksen.
Sergio Ramos: 12th to 7th
A climb of five places. Ramos left Real Madrid in June 2021 and Paris Saint-Germain welcomed him in July (Real Madrid).
Robert Lewandowski: 9th to 8th
A one-place gain; his figures barely moved (10.0 and 10.2), so he held the same share of the leader’s interest.
Mohamed Salah: 6th to 9th
Three places lower, from 12.8 to 9.4 on the leader scale, and just behind Robert Lewandowski, whom he had been ahead of in 2020.
Sergio Agüero: 23rd to 10th
The biggest riser in the top ten. Barcelona announced on 31 May 2021 that he would join when his Manchester City contract ended, on a contract to the end of 2022/23 (FC Barcelona).
The top ten as a whole did not change much in its size: tenth place sat at 9.6 in 2020 and 9.2 in 2021, each a little under a tenth of the leader. The change is in who fills it. Suárez, Cavani and Bale left the top ten, while Eriksen, Ramos and Agüero came in. Romelu Lukaku, up to 11th, missed it by one place.
Which 2021 events line up with the biggest moves?
Several of the risers have a summer 2021 transfer behind them. Inter Milan announced on 12 August 2021 that Lukaku, 11th (up from 32nd), was moving to Chelsea (Inter). Manchester United completed the signing of Jadon Sancho on 23 July 2021 (Manchester United); he is 18th, five places below where he was the year before. France’s coach Didier Deschamps named Benzema, 12th and ten places higher, in his Euro 2020 squad; his previous cap had come in October 2015 (UEFA).
Euro 2020, played in 2021, was won by Italy, who beat England on penalties at Wembley on 11 July (UEFA). Two Italian names in the 2021 list are Insigne, who is new in 29th, and Jorginho, up 44 places to 46th. The full Italian group is in Most Searched EURO 2020 Winner Italy Players on Google in 2021.
What does the 2027 list change?
The 2027 list is the newest one available. It uses Google Trends data for 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026, because no data for 2027 itself exists yet, and it has its own scale, so compare ranks here too. Ronaldo and Messi hold first and second in all three lists, with Messi on 96.6 and Mbappé, now third, on 42.4. Of the 120 players in the 2020 and 2021 lists, 40 are in the newest top 100.
Neymar has slipped from third to fifth, Zlatan Ibrahimović from fourth in 2020 to 21st, and Gareth Bale from 10th in 2020 to 92nd. Christian Eriksen, fifth in 2021, is outside the newest top 100. The highest names that were on neither earlier list are Erling Haaland, Lamine Yamal, Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane. The earlier lists only covered the names in the old versions of this post, so new here means new to this comparison, not new to football: Pelé and David Beckham appear too. The full ranking is in 100 Most Searched Football Players on Google in 2027.
| 2027 list rank | Player | 2027 list index |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Erling Haaland | 37.0 |
| 6 | Lamine Yamal | 36.3 |
| 7 | Vinícius Júnior | 17.1 |
| 9 | Jude Bellingham | 14.5 |
| 10 | Harry Kane | 12.2 |
| 11 | Ronaldinho Gaúcho | 9.3 |
| 12 | David Beckham | 8.3 |
| 13 | Pelé | 7.8 |
| 14 | Julián Alvarez | 7.6 |
| 16 | Raphinha | 6.8 |
How were these two lists measured?
Both lists come from Google Trends, using topics rather than plain keywords, so “Messi” and “Lionel Messi” are one entry. The figures are worldwide web-search interest, averaged weekly, for 1 January to 31 December 2020 and 1 January to 31 December 2021. In each year the players were measured five at a time against fixed anchor topics, chained into one scale, and set so that the most searched name equals 100. Values below 1 are shown as “<1”.
The candidates were the names in the earlier version of this post: 100 for 2020, of which 98 appear in the list, and 136 for 2021, from which the top 100 are shown. That difference matters for the comparison: a dash means the player is outside that year’s list, either because he was measured and fell short of the 100 shown or because he was not a candidate for that year. The goalkeeper Neto is shown as “Neto (Norberto Murara)”, the name under which Google files him.
Sources
- Google Trends
- Manchester United: Ronaldo transfer
- FC Barcelona: Messi will not stay
- Ligue 1: Lionel Messi’s time in Ligue 1
- UEFA: football unites in support of Christian Eriksen
- Real Madrid: official announcement on Sergio Ramos, 16 June 2021
- FC Barcelona: Sergio Agüero signs
- Inter: Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea
- Manchester United: Jadon Sancho transfer
- UEFA: Deschamps on recalling Benzema
- UEFA: Italy 1-1 England, EURO 2020 final
FAQ
Who was the most searched football player on Google in 2020 and 2021?
Cristiano Ronaldo, first in both years, with Lionel Messi second in both. Neymar is third in both.
Who is new in the 2021 top ten?
Christian Eriksen, fifth, was not in the 2020 list. Sergio Ramos (7th) and Sergio Agüero (10th) also climbed into the top ten from 12th and 23rd.
Which players dropped out of the top ten from 2020?
Luis Suárez (7th to 19th), Edinson Cavani (8th to 21st) and Gareth Bale (10th to 17th) left the top ten. Paulo Dybala, 11th in 2020, was 24th.
Which player rose the most?
Among players in both lists, Mason Mount: 79th in 2020 and 30th in 2021, a gain of 49 places. Jorginho went from 90th to 46th.
How many players are in both lists?
78 players are ranked in both years. 22 are new in 2021 and 20 from the 2020 list are not in the 2021 list.
Check out also:
100 Most Searched Football Clubs on Google in 2021
Top 10 Football Players with Most Fans in the World in 2021
Top 10 Football Clubs with Most Fans in the World in 2021
Top Champions League 2021-2022 Football Clubs with Most Fans in the World
Most Searched EURO 2020 Winner Italy Players on Google in 2021
Top 10 Premier League Football Clubs with Most Fans in the World in 2021
