A graphic shared on Twitter by Soccer.com shows the most popular football player in each state, with some surprising results and other not-so-surprising results. The data is based on jerseys sales in 2020 on Soccer.com.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi share 24 states, which — as the two best players football has probably ever seen — makes sense. Just as unsurprising, US-sensation Christian Pulisic is the most popular player in no less than 19 states. Pulisic burst onto the scene as a teenager at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, before securing a big-money move to Chelsea in the Premier League last year.
A little more surprising (albeit less so when one considers the players’ recent performances on the pitch) is that North Dakota’s favorite player is Manchester United‘s new main man, Bruno Fernandes, and that Alaska seems to be a big fan of Marcus Rashford. Both players have been in great form over the past 12 months, with Fernandes being involved in over 25 goals since his debut in Manchester last January, so their jerseys being top-sellers does make sense.
Vermont’s choice of Dele Alli and Hawaii’s love for Anthony Martial, on the other hand, are perplexing. Maybe Vermont has a large contingent of Spurs fans or football fans that just watched Amazon Prime’s Tottenham Hotspur documentary. Either way, Alli’s status as the most popular jersey in Vermont is a strange one. Equally strange is Leonardo Bonucci’s jersey outselling all over jerseys in South Dakota.
Take a look at the graphic above to see which state favors what player.
