​Cristiano Ronaldo has been the most searched athlete on Google for the past year, and the Top 10 also includes an athlete who is less known internationally, but very much loved in his own country.

Virat Kohli, one of the most popular sportsmen on the internet

34-year-old Virat Kohli plays cricket. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore and captains the Indian national team, and his name was searched 68 million times on Google between September 2022 and August 2023.

Nicknamed “Chiku” and “The King”, Kohli is the third most followed athlete on Instagram with 261 million fans. Only Cristiano Ronaldo (609 million) and Lionel Messi (489 million) are ahead of him.

In 2018, Time magazine included Kohli among the 100 most influential people on the planet.

Check out this Instagram post

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli)

The most searched athletes on Google

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (football) – 199.4 million searches

2. Neymar (football) – 140.9 m

3. Lionel Messi (football) – 140.9 m

4. LeBron James (basketball) – 72.1 m

5. Virat Kohli (cricket) – 68 m

6. Kylian Mbappe (football) – 63.7 m

7. Carlos Alcaraz (tennis) – 60 m

8. Novak Djokovic (tennis) – 58.4 m

9. Erling Haaland (football) – 43.4 m

10. Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1) – 34.9 m.

Source: OLBG.com.

Athletes with the most followers on Instagram

1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 609 million

2. Lionel Messi – 489 m

3. Virat Kohli – 261 m

4. Neymar – 215 m

5. LeBron James – 158 m.