This topic has crossed my mind a couple of times actually, is Messi more well-known than Ronaldinho was, say 5 years ago? Say you go to a random person on the street back in 2008, or ask a friend who knows nothing about the sport and ask him to name a football player, he will mostly likely answer Ronaldinho or Ronaldo. The other day I asked one my friends father, do you know anything about football he said nah, only 1 player, he replied by saying Ronaldinho, I asked him do you know Messi, he said no who is that. But say had I asked that in 2007/2008 he probably would have replied with Ronaldinho as well.

I've also asked others before, more than half of them didn't know who Messi is, even though they know who Ronaldinho was. And I also feel that the Messi brand hasnt exceeded the Ronaldinho brand, even though Messi's achievements are superior to Dinhos.

Point is, do some people in your country still not know about Messi? And if they do, do you think more people know about him than Ronaldinho?

Well in Mexico he has been known ever since he scored that sexy chip against Mexico 2008? or 2007 don't remember.
USA has been getting to know him more as of late considering he has made tours to Miami, New York etc and recently being on 60 minutes sports (television program) apparently in japan having that weird shaving cream commercial he must be known to be featured there xD

The non-footballing population of the US only Beckham here.

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:The non-footballing population of the US only Beckham here.

Yeah. If you were to ask a random person, "Name a footballer, doesn't matter any one"...

They would say Tom Brady

But then if you reasked the question they would they would say Beckham, or maybe Pele.

Messi doesn't do enough off the field in terms of advertising himself in the media to be a household US name

Eh well I only really visit Miami, Chicago and New York and Messi is on most football (or soccer) stores display

In Canada, most people I talk to say CR7 and/ or Messi.

Donuts wrote:Eh well I only really visit Miami, Chicago and New York and Messi is on most football (or soccer) stores display

He is, but thats not quite enough to take him to the next level. He would need to make movie cameos, go on talk shows, do big commercials, have videogames named after him specifically like "Messi Soccer 13!" or something (Becks and pele had their own specific games). Have a soda named after him lol. And so on.

While people in the sport always talk about him he doesn't quite talk about himself enough or promote himself in the media to big a super huge media celebrity, not just a sports celebrity.

But its not that doing any of that would really be a good thing

VendettaRed07 wrote:

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:The non-footballing population of the US only Beckham here.

Yeah. If you were to ask a random person, "Name a footballer, doesn't matter any one"...

They would say Tom Brady

But then if you reasked the question they would they would say Beckham, or maybe Pele.

Messi doesn't do enough off the field in terms of advertising himself in the media to be a household US name

Obviously the small portion of the population that watch football know their stuff but majority know jack squat about football. It's not surprising considering %70 percent of 'Muricans don't even know who the vice president is?

Why's it a good thing for Messi to be known by everyone?

Well Messi has a very large billboard advert in the Metro's main highway here in the Philippines.. Yea he is pretty well known in my experience.

EDIT : Having a billboard larger than Pacquiao's in my country says something.

I don't think he's up there yet where Ronaldinho was in the United States but he is definitely getting very popular and known very quick. I believe signing with EA helped him get more known in the states through advertising etc. The average American might not know much about the sport but many watch the world cup or may hear random tidbits of information about the biggest happenings, Messi winning Ballon d'Or, Messi scoring 5 goals etc. He's already a household name for sure but I don't think he has the popularity that Ronaldinho did in the US, at least not from my personal experience.

But do you guys feel more people 'know' Messi now than Dinho say 5 years ago?

Casciavit wrote:But do you guys feel more people 'know' Messi now than Dinho say 5 years ago?

Not in my land, Though not surprisingly since Leo is kinda a media shy type of guy. While Dinho was fantastically advertised by Nike from left to right in every corner of the world.

But Messi's name will probably come to it's own soon.

Everyone knew Ronaldinho due to his freestyle, tricks etc.

In england it's different. Ronaldinho is long forgotten. Just talked about like people talk about Zidane or Real Ronaldo

It's Messi vs C.Ronaldo in here and because of the united fans, Ronaldo is nearly as famous as messi if not more. but Rooney is above both lol

RealGunner wrote:In england it's different. Ronaldinho is long forgotten. Just talked about like people talk about Zidane or Real Ronaldo

It's Messi vs C.Ronaldo in here and because of the united fans, Ronaldo is nearly as famous as messi if not more. but Rooney is above both lol

I think people in England rate Ronaldo higher because he's strong, EPL proven and 'complete'. By 'complete' I mean what casual fans would think of complete as, e.g. heading, strength, speed etc. Not the way Messi is complete.

Yohan Modric wrote:

RealGunner wrote:In england it's different. Ronaldinho is long forgotten. Just talked about like people talk about Zidane or Real Ronaldo

It's Messi vs C.Ronaldo in here and because of the united fans, Ronaldo is nearly as famous as messi if not more. but Rooney is above both lol

I think people in England rate Ronaldo higher because he's strong, EPL proven and 'complete'. By 'complete' I mean what casual fans would think of complete as, e.g. heading, strength, speed etc. Not the way Messi is complete.

Yep. Also because of ex united fans who still love Ronaldo.

Yeah, everyone "knows" Messi, but he will never exceed the magic that was Ronaldinho.

Messi needs to have an ad where he hits the crossbar with volleys 3 times in a row, each time the ball goes straight back to him.

Fake, I dont care..that was fun

Fifa will continue to help Messi gain more popularity like Ronaldinho, having his face on EA products (for the best selling sports game in the world) and fifa street.
Let alone Messi is also only 25, not yet to hit his peak both in the game and popularity.

Lionel Messi (16th), iconic veteran David Beckham (20th), and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (24th) -- rank among the 50 most popular athletes in America.

Also in my country I think Messi surpassed Ronaldinho long time ago.

I would say he's just as known as Dinho in big/middle cities here.

I think Messi is as well known as Ronaldinho where I am (although neither have much exposure).

Might be due to my buddies and I making it a goal to make him well known though although by 'where I am' I refer mostly to my high school, not where I live. Where I live he's as well known as Joe Schmoe across the lake.

what mainly feeds the 'not in the know about football' population is media, advertisements, and well FIFA 13 so maybe not yet as dinho was marketed out the butt basically at a point but messi definitely surpass him.

Ronaldo is way more known in america.. just saying. especially by the girls here