The ESPN World Fame 100 has a glaring absence from its list this year, and it's a bit of a head scratcher. Last year's ESPN World Fame 100 list included Mo Salah as the 100th most famous athlete in the world. Perhaps ESPN deserved credit for anticipating the breakthrough season Mo Salah had at Liverpool, but in spite of that, ESPN inexplicably left him off this year's list.
It's well known that Salah does not live for the limelight, instead focusing on his family, faith and scoring boatloads of goals. But he is still really, really famous.
After scoring a last minute penalty to send Egypt to the World Cup, Mo Salah officially became the most renowned Egyptian King since Rome's annexation of Egypt. It's safe to assume that all 95 million Egyptians were reacting at home like the fans shown here at the stadium.
THAT Mohamed Salah penalty in the 94th minute to send Egypt to the World Cup for the first time since 1990
— Roar Of The Kop (@_RoarOfTheKop_) May 22, 2018
Salah followed up his World Cup qualifying campaign with a historic Premier League season. His 32 league goals set the single season Premier League scoring record, and Liverpool fans have come up with a hit song in his honor. Even his supporters back home in Egypt act like third-generation Liverpool fans when he scores a goal for the Reds.
Liverpool fans, or Mo Salah fans more like, watching in Egypt!#LFC #LIVROM pic.twitter.com/aYF5NI1lKX
— Paul Higham (@SportsPaulH) April 24, 2018
So, how did Mo Salah not make it onto the ESPN World Fame 100 list this year? There's no good explanation, but we can at least look at the three factors that ESPN uses to measure fame.
First, ESPN ranks athletes by their most popular social media account. Ronaldo's social media ranking sets him apart, as he has 126 million Instagram followers. Only pop star Selena Gomez has more.
Mo Salah is no slouch on Instagram with 13.6 million followers. That's in the range of Paulo Dybala (15.9 million) and Sergio Aguero (8.9 million). Both of those players ranked in the top 40 on the ESPN World Fame 100 list.
Next, ESPN calculates the value of each athlete's endorsements. Thanks in large part to his $1 billion deal with Nike, Lebron James tops the endorsement list with an annual takehome of $55 million. Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods made $50 million and $45 million respectively, and Ronaldo's $40 million in endorsements were fourth most on the list.
The value of Salah's endorsements will likely surge following his record-breaking season with Liverpool and the World Cup this summer, but there's no doubt Salah's brand is already valuable.
Finally, ESPN considers an athlete's search rank on Google. Cristiano Ronaldo, who for the third consecutive year was number one on the list, has his search rank set at 100. Nine other athletes had a search rank higher than Ronaldo's, with Floyd Mayweather coming in at 196 (he's been searched for almost twice as much as Ronaldo).
Although Salah didn't make the ESPN World Fame 100 list, soccer was far and away the most represented sport with 33 athletes.
Basketball (13), tennis (12), cricket (10) and golf (8) rounded out the top five.
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