Despite on-pitch inconsistencies, England’s football team dominates Instagram during october’s international break

England stood out as the top-performing national team on Instagram during the latest FIFA window, which spanned from October 7 to 17. With a staggering 14.22 million of interactions during this period, the official England team profile achieved a 20% higher performance than Argentina, which held the second spot in terms of total engagements.

Not even the underwhelming on-field performance of the England team could derail its digital success. The 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley, during a UEFA Nations League match, was overshadowed by excellent digital strategies, propelling the England team to the top of the digital engagement leaderboard.

Two cross-posts with the official profiles of Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC sent the English team’s interaction numbers soaring. As a result, these posts ranked among the top five during the period, with one even claiming the top spot. The theme? A stunning free-kick goal by Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

This post alone garnered over 777.000 engagements, becoming the England team’s best-performing post and the third-highest overall during the period. It trailed only a well-deserved tribute from Argentina’s official profile to Messi after another magical performance in which the number 10 scored a hat-trick and provided two assists against Bolivia.

In addition to this post and the announcement of Thomas Tuchel as the new coach – further detailed below – the collaboration with Chelsea FC also boosted the England team’s reach.

A photo carousel celebrating Cole Palmer, named England’s Player of the Year on October 8, reached 409.000 engagements, marking the fifth-best performance during the period. This post also benefited from a commercial partnership with EE, a British telecommunications company.

Thomas Tuchel’s Appointment Boosted England’s Digital Presence

Following the loss to Greece at Wembley and a 3-1 victory over Finland in Helsinki, The FA announced the hiring of German coach Thomas Tuchel as the new manager, replacing Gareth Southgate, who had led the team from 2016 to 2024 and reached the finals in the last two Euro tournaments.

The announcement of Tuchel, a winner of the Champions League with Chelsea in 2020/2021, alongside his other achievements at PSG, Bayern Munich, and Borussia Dortmund, caused a digital stir.

Two posts – a design graphic announcing Tuchel and a video recorded at Wembley with personal feelings explored – helped the England profile reach 1,1 million engagements on October 16, securing the second-highest performance of the day, just behind Argentina’s profile. That day, as mentioned earlier, Lionel Messi put on another spectacular display in Buenos Aires.

The video, in which Tuchel expressed both nervousness and honor at taking the role, garnered 6.7k comments, most of them hopeful and supportive of The FA’s decision and it’s the 11^th post in comments all over the 2024 year.

A Key Period for England’s Digital Performance in 2024

The 11-day FIFA window from October 7 to 17 accounted for 8.93% of all interactions the England team’s Instagram profile has received in 2024. It also marked the fourth-highest interaction spike for the profile.

It’s important to note that the highest performance was recorded between June and July, during the Euro Championship, where England finished as runners-up, losing 2-1 to Spain in the final. A heart-breaking goal from Mikel Oyarzabal in the dying minutes of regulation sealed their fate.

As for the most recent FIFA period, the peak in engagement occurred on October 16, the day Tuchel’s appointment was announced. This peak surpassed the interactions seen on October 8 (Chelsea FC collaboration), October 10 (England vs. Greece), and October 13 (England vs. Finland).

Digital Content Consumption in England

According to GWI Insights, 88.3% of British internet users use social media to watch or follow sports, and 74.4% use social media while watching live sports events.

Additionally, 89.2% of users reported watching sports highlights or clips in recent weeks, while 65.5% use social media to stay updated with news or upcoming events.

The official England football team profile reflects these impressive numbers:

• 2nd fastest-growing national team profile (19M followers)
• 3rd in total interactions among national teams in 2024 (159M)
• 4th in total number of posts (14k)
• 5th in total followers (124M)
• 20% of @England’s followers are based in the UK
• Three out of the top nine cities with the most followers are in England (London, Leeds, and Manchester)