Portugal’s national football team has lost more than 1.4 million Instagram followers in 24 hours amid the controversy involving captain Cristiano Ronaldo and head coach Jorge Jesus.
A check on Friday morning by INTELNEWSNG showed the team’s official Instagram page had fallen from about 24.9 million followers to 23.4 million.
The drop came after Ronaldo left Portugal’s training camp in Denmark following a dispute involving him and Jesus.
Ronaldo reportedly left the camp on Wednesday after speaking with Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença. He later confirmed his exit in an Instagram post, saying he would explain his reasons “in due time.”
The move followed Jesus’ decision to leave Ronaldo out of the starting lineup. Reports said the disagreement grew after the coach spoke publicly about the situation, leading to debate over Ronaldo’s future with Portugal.
Portuguese media also reported the fall in followers. A Bola recorded a drop of more than 300,000 in less than 24 hours, while broadcaster Renascença, citing HypeAuditor data, reported more than 370,000 fewer followers, putting the account at 24,631,902.
Comments reported by A Bola and Goal included users saying they followed Portugal because of Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, remains one of Instagram’s most-followed individuals. His page had about 679 million followers on Friday.
