World Cup(R) – Ronaldo triumphs, Messi failes to score

(BPT) – Soccer frenzy is alive and well. So who’s the most popular soccer star right now?

Hot or Not, the original site that lets you rate friends and celebrities, has the answers.  Over 10 million users voted on every player in the 2014 World Cup(R) in Brazil, and the results are in. Hot or Not’s World Cup(R) Hot List will dynamically update during the championship, showing how players’ popularity rises and falls based on their performance and public reaction to it. At time of writing, German, Belgian and Italian players fill the top 10 after high profile wins.

Unsurprisingly, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo tops the table, with nearly 70 percent of Hot or Not users voting for the striker hot, and a massive 73 percent of women rated him hot. Perhaps women love his goal-scoring, or perhaps the toned body, stunning supermodel girlfriend Irina Shayk and, of course, those Emporio Armani underwear adverts.

It’s a different story with Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s closest rival, but more famous on the field than in lifestyle magazines. A close second to Ronaldo among men, he only appeals to 62 percent of women. The same pattern is seen elsewhere – guys rate the skills of young Brazilian star Neymar and Spanish veteran Sergio Ramos, while women are attracted to the rock star good looks of the likes of France’s Olivier Giroud and Italy’s Claudio Marchiso. Oh, and Team USA is right in there too – both the chiseled good looks of Michael Parkhurst and the crazy hairstyles of DeAndre Yedlin score highly among women.

The significant thing about Hot or Not’s celebrity rankings is that they don’t just provide a snapshot of a celebrity’s star power. Rather, they offer a barometer of their popularity, so it’s possible to see how, say, winning World Cup(R) matches affects their popularity over time. The ratings are completely democratic – anyone can sign in and vote for their favorite star.

“We’re really happy to give people the chance to rate soccer stars and other celebrities”, says Andrey Andreev, CEO of Hot or Not. “But more than that, we feel that our celebrity ratings offer valuable information on who’s hot now and who’ll be hot next week. Perhaps celebrities will even sign in to check their own ratings.”

Hot or Not is not affiliated with the World Cup(R).