Messi or Ronaldo? Study finds your preference might reflect your politics

It makes a weird amount of sense...

Do you know what else divides? Yep, politics.

So, it comes as no surprise that your preference in the GOAT (greatest of all time) debate might just come down to whether you see yourself as a left-winger or a right-winger (never has a pun been so intended).

The football political spectrum

While, of course, some people might see themselves more of a Zidane centrist, an Anarchic Maradona, or an authoritarian Mbappé, the divide between Messi and Ronaldo fans seems notably clear.

This all comes thanks to a study by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore carried out by people that can only be described as 'football mad lads'.

The study did a survey of more than 10,000 people from 26 countries across the globe to ask them who they preferred out of Messi and Ronaldo, as well as their political persuasion.

The results came back showing some interesting trends.

The research found that those who identified as more conservative tended to prefer Ronaldo while those who identified as more liberal preferred Messi.

The correlation was found to be strongest with younger generations while the difference was more nuanced with older people.

Credit: Nanyang Technological University.

There's probably some irony in here that Messi played most of his games in his career on the right-wing while Ronaldo played a lot of his games on the left-wing.

Other defining characteristics

While political penchant was one of the interests of the study, it also looked into personal characteristics and habits of Messi and Ronaldo fans.

The survey found that those who favoured Ronaldo got more of their news from short-form video platforms such as TikTok and Instagram which research said could come down to his larger presence in these content streams.

Meanwhile it also found that Ronaldo fans tended to have higher self-esteem than Messi fans.

This trend, as well as the decision to favour one over the other, is likely due to people identifying with public figures with similar perceived personality traits.

Whether fair or not, characteristics such as a larger ego and self-confidence have long been associated with Ronaldo, while Messi is seen as quieter and humbler.

Study lead Associate Professor Saifuddin Ahmed said: “People may want to present themselves as modest, but that does not mean they identify most strongly with modest public figures. Those with higher self-esteem may instead gravitate towards someone who embodies excellence, confidence and achievement – qualities they may see reflected in themselves.”

The study acknowledged that the data could be influenced by regional differences - for example Messi is much more likely to be popular across the board in Argentina than elsewhere with the same going for Ronaldo in Portugal.

Either way, it's always interesting to see what happens when the worlds of football and politics collide, just don't think too hard about what a world run by footballers might look like...

The full version of the study can be read here.

The 26 countries surveyed were Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. They were selected to span six continents and a range of football cultures, political systems, and economic development.