Picture of Messi

As a writer who is enthusiastic about happenings in sports and entertainment, I would not have imagined writing on both topics so soon, let alone trying to reconcile both worlds, but for this recent occurrence that I’m about to talk about.

Aside from writing, as a lover of sports and entertainment, I find related arguments interesting regardless of my stance on whatever is being argued. It was actually on this fateful day, the 25th of September when this latest Twitter scuffle ensued. An argument that emanated from a somewhat blasphemous statement (as ascribed by football fans) as this tweet below;

I am not sure if the tweep was listening to the Renaissance album’s final track and was pondering Beyoncé’s impact, or maybe just finished seeing YouTube footage of the American musical diva making roughly 50,000 people go ecstatic during a musical concert. However, what is obvious and unarguable is that her bias stems from her little knowledge about the world-acclaimed greatest football players of all time. The “music vs. football” argument did not just begin recently. People have long disputed which has had the greatest impact and by extension the most influential people, dead or alive.

Beyonce’s picture


And again, this piece is not an expository on the influence both have on people. Well, maybe some other time, we will do a comparative synopsis. But as regards influence or popularity, are musicians more renowned than football players? Or is the reverse the case? One funny thing is, even if football fans were supposed to be polite enough in engaging the tweep, the international break that is not quite as interesting as club football already stirred up anger in their loins.

The way avalanche of differing opinions came in, the lady was very well informed not to respond but rather to mute her tweet notification. Nonetheless, football enthusiasts went on a rampage cooking whatever they can regardless. Major comparisons started between Beyoncé and the two greatest football players of all time, Messi and Ronaldo. Beginning with their social media following (Instagram). Messi, the least followed of the two football players, surpasses Beyoncé’s followers count by 87 million.


Football fans surely mucked up her notifications with banter, varying from the preference of Ronaldo’s celebratory chants over her discography to comparing the stadium’s attendance of specific football matches to her biggest concert ever. Beyoncé is a top gun in the industry, and she has all the recognisable numbers, awards, and approbations to back it up, but people still believe that comparing her to football players in terms of influence is quite overreaching.


Also, many people believe that no one in the music industry, dead or alive, should be compared to the greatest athletes that have lived, except Michael Jackson. In the debate, MJ seems like the only messiah of the music stans. The late American music icon dominated the world of music for decades, and his global influence is unmatched. But if MJ is to be exempted, is there anybody else in the music industry that matches Messi and Ronaldo’s influence in the world?


Is it the adrenaline moment when a famous player is about to take a decisive penalty kick that helps his club or country clinch a trophy? Or the outcry of joy in the stadium when Messi is warming up, getting ready to be subbed in, to change the game? If a musician ever gets these moments, It will probably be on a musical tour in different European cities, which happens once in 2 to 3 years, unlike in football, where fans likely get that feeling almost every weekend

The iconic MJ


Also, the famous Coca-Cola company’s market value decline was brought into the conversation. The bottling company reportedly lost $4 billion because Ronaldo preferred water to Coca-Cola drinks, as was seen at the Euro 2020 press conference (although some news outlets said the interview was not the only reason). People prodded the tweep to provide evidence of such influence from Beyoncé, which I don’t think anyone was able to do. There was a lot more banter in favour of football that music fans could not counter. Does that give us a clear answer? What do you have to say about this?

Peter Adeyemo.

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