Analysing which players are most and least loved by their fans during Euro 2024, according to social media reactions.
The events that unfolded at Euro 2024 have given fans of every participating nation reasons to celebrate and despair.
No fan would’ve wanted to be in the shoes of Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn after he conceded a record number of goals (5) for an opening match in the European Championships versus Germany.
Some embarrassment was also shared in that game by Germany's Antonio Rudiger, after heading into his own net and contributing to one of the six own goals scored before the group stage of Euro 2024 had even concluded. Own goals this year are just one shy of equaling a tournament record of 11 from Euro 2020.
Moments to saviour have been just as frequent, however. Whether it's Jude Bellingham's late bicycle kick to save England's campaign vs Slovakia, or Albania's Nedim Bajrami firing in the fastest goal in Euros history against Italy, plenty of players have written their names into their country's footballing folklore this summer.
And, just as on-pitch events fluctuate in favour of either team, so do the opinions of fans who are watching the action unfold.
Our research
We have analysed more than 382,000 fan reactions to 203,817 social media posts about footballers during Euro 2024 to reveal which of them are most and least loved.
We focused on content about players that was posted from accounts within each of their home countries. We then ranked players on having the highest and lowest % of fans who left a love emoji (😍) in response to posts about them.
Key findings
Ollie Watkins finished the tournament as England's most popular player among fans, with 92% of fan responses to him using love emojis on Facebook.
In the lead up to the Euro 2024 final, Ollie Watkins was also England's favourite player of the knockout stages, following his stunning late winner vs the Netherlands in the semi-final.
Marc Guéhi (loved by 77% of fans) and Jude Bellingham (74%) were the England players most loved during the group stages of the tournament.
Harry Kane (19%) was the least loved England player during the tournament's group stages, while Conor Gallagher (15%) received the least amount of love during the knockout stages.
Outside of England, Turkey goalkeeper Mert Günok received the most love (98%) from his home nation's fans during the knockout stages.
Among other European nations, Netherlands defender Nathan Ake (89%) and Portugal's Bernardo Silva (86%) were the most loved by their home countries during the group stages.
Ollie Watkins finishes the tournament as England fans' favourite player
A disappointing end for England's Euro 2024 campaign hardly dampened the popularity of Ollie Watkins among his home nation's fans, with 92% of fan responses to him on Facebook reacting with love emojis across the entirety of the knockout stages.
Watkins was given 30 minutes to salvage the match against Spain, but a rigid defensive performance from the Spaniards ensured no repeat of the Aston Villa forward's semi-final heroics against the Netherlands.
Along with Watkins, Kobbie Mainoo (81% of fans showing love) and Cole Palmer (80%) rank among England fans' top 3 most popular players at the end of the tournament.
Despite the defeat to an imperious Spain side, Palmer was able to provide fans with one moment of celebration after his left-footed shot sailed into the bottom corner of Unai Simón's goal to bring the match level in the 73rd minute.
Watkins, Palmer and Saka were England's favourite players ahead of the final
Despite limited minutes for England at Euro 2024, Ollie Watkins' 89th minute winner against the Netherlands gave his nation's fans arguably the sweetest moment of the tournament en route to becoming England's most loved player.
With 91% of fan responses to Ollie Watkins on social media using a love emoji, he leads the ranking of England fan favourites during the knockout stages before the final against Spain.
In second place is Cole Palmer (84%) who came into the Netherlands tie as a substitute alongside Watkins before supplying the Aston Villa forward with a perfectly weighted through-ball to run on to and fire England into the final.
Bukayo Saka's equaliser and penalty heroics against Switzerland have also helped to earn him a place as England's third-most loved player (at 80%) during the knockout stages leading up to the final.
Conor Gallagher has generally been used by manager Gareth Southgate as a disrupter in the limited time that he's been afforded at Euro 2024. This less glamorous role in the team may explain why he ranks as the least loved England player of the knockout stages with 15% of fans reacting to him with a love emoji.
Turkey shot stopper receives more love than anyone else from his nation's fans
Few people would've been familiar with Turkey's Mert Günok before Euro 2024 began. However, his goalkeeping heroics during the tournament saw him compared with the likes of Gordon Banks and Gianluigi Buffon after pulling off a stunning save in Turkey's quarter-final victory against Austria.
Günok's performances have helped him rank as the most loved player (at 98%) during Euro 2024's knockout stages, according to his own fans.
The top 3 most loved players during the knockout stages is made up entirely of goalkeepers, with Netherlands Bart Verbruggen (2nd with 96%) and Slovenia's Jan Oblak (3rd with 94%) also receiving more plaudits from their home nation's fans than any of their teammates.
Notable attacking players that rank in the top 10 include Portugal's midfield magician Bernardo Silva (86%), and Spain wonderkid Lamine Yamal (67%) who broke a record previously held by Pelé since 1958 as the youngest player to participate in a World Cup or Euro semi-final.
Doku and Højlund receive the least amount of love from fans in the knockout rounds
Outside of England, Belgium's Jeremy Doku ranks as the player shown the least amount of love (6%) by his fans in the Euro knockout stages, followed by Denmark's Rasmus Højlund (7%).
Both Doku and Højlund enjoyed a productive first year in the Premier League last season playing for cross-town rivals Manchester City and Manchester United.
Their experience at Euro 2024 proved less fruitful. Both of their nations suffered elimination at the last-16 stage of the tournament, while neither of them managed to register a goal or assist in any match.
Crystal Palace defender was the most loved English player during group stages
With fewer than 20 England caps to his name, Marc Guéhi was already loved by 77% of England fans, according to the responses to him on social media during the group stages. This was the highest of any England player who had played in their opening group fixtures.
Despite concerns before the Euros began over who would be a capable replacement for Harry Maguire, Guéhi has excelled as a partner for John Stones in central defence with a Sofascore rating of a least 7 in each of England's Group C matches.
Real Madrid’s number 10 Jude Bellingham was also one of England’s favourites in the group stages (74% of fans loved him) after his match winning goal against Serbia in the 13th minute that was followed by a dominant midfield display for the game’s duration.
Harry Kane was shown the least amount of love from England fans in the group stages with fewer than one in five (19%) love reactions in response to him on social media. This comes despite the England skipper opening the scoring against Denmark with a coolly taken finish.
During Euro 2024's opening fixtures, Gareth Southgate experimented with Trent Alexander-Arnold both as a midfield partner to Declan Rice and by playing him in his more natural position at right-back. In both positions, he struggled to put his stamp on games with his usual delectable range of passing. This may explain why he is only second to Harry Kane in terms of how little love (35%) he's been shown by England fans.
Nathan Aké led the rest of Europe as the most loved by his nation's fans during the group stages
Outside of England, Nathan Aké received the most love (89%) from his home nation's fans despite mixed results during the Netherlands' Group D matches.
The Netherlands impressed the whole of Europe after holding France to a goalless draw in their second group game. However, an entertaining 3-2 defeat to Austria in their final group match took their opportunity to progress to the next stage of the tournament out of their hands and reliant on other results to go their way.
Aké's national team mate Wout Weghorst also ranked within the top 10 most loved players (at 74%) in Europe after his late goalscoring heroics against Poland in their opening match of the tournament.
Elsewhere among Euro 2024's most loved players outside of England in the group stages was Nicolai Stanciu (3rd place) with 85% of fans showing the Romania captain love on social media. Stanciu caused his nation to erupt 29 minutes into their opening Group E fixture against Ukraine with a sweetly struck goal from 20 yards, which he later called the goal of his career.
Among notable household names such as Kevin De Bruyne (6th) and Cristiano Ronaldo (7th), Albania's Qazim Laçi ranks as Europe's 10th most loved player with 72% of fans showing him love during the group stages.
Although Albania failed to progress out of their 'group of death' that also consisted of Spain, Italy and Croatia, Laçi provided Albania fans with one of their tournament highlights when his header set them on their way to securing an impressive 2-2 draw against Croatia.
Manuel Neuer shown the least love by his nation's fans at Euro 2024
The hosts of the tournament were free-scoring during the group stages, putting away eight goals in their opening three games. At the other end of the pitch Manuel Neuer's experienced head in goal didn't receive much love at all in comparison to other players. During the group stages, only 10% of fans reacted to content about Neuer with a love emoji, while the vast majority (79%) of fans reacted to posts about him with a laughing emoji.
Perhaps the German goalkeeper's longstanding mastery in goal left German fans laughing as much as loving him. Neuer's start against Switzerland meant that he surpassed Gianluigi Buffon as the keeper with the most appearances (18) in the European Championships.
Elsewhere among Europe's least loved players at the European Championship's group stages were Hungary's Dominik Szoboszlai (loved by 13% of fans), Neuer's German teammate Maximilian Mittelstädt (14%), and Spain's Dani Olmo (14%).
Despite the lack of love shown to them, all three players have enjoyed impressive moments during the opening games of Euro 2024. Dani Olmo, who also plies his trade at club level in Germany, provided an assist for Ferran Torres's winner against Albania, which helped Spain qualify from their group with a 100% win record. He has since gone on to play an integral role in Spain's journey to the final, most notably by scoring the winner in his nation's semi-final comeback against France.
Methodology
We analysed the responses to posts on Facebook about footballers during the group stages of Euro 2024 and then during the knockout stages to reveal which players are most and least loved by their fans.
We filtered social media content that was posted within each player's home country to focus on audiences based in that country.
We then calculated the % of fans who responded to posts about each player with love emojis (😍).
The data for content about each player and the fan responses to them were sourced from Buzzsumo.com. Content about each player includes articles, posts, videos, interviews and podcasts among other media types.
We removed players from the final ranking where there were fewer than 50 posts about them and fewer than 50 fans responding to posts about them.
In total, we analysed 203,817 social media posts about players and 382,895 audience responses to them.
Notes on the data
The data represents responses to media posted about each player on Facebook during Euro 2024. Other possible emoji reactions alongside 'love' were: anger, sadness, laughter and 'wow' as per Facebook's possible emoji responses to posts. As such, the players who rank lower on 'love' are ranked higher on anger, sadness, humour or wow-factor from fans who respond to them. It should be noted that anger responses made up less than 10% of the responses to almost every player in the dataset.
