Famous soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo broke an internet record on Thursday after his new channel achieved the fastest time to garner one million followers on YouTube, standing at one hour and 29 minutes after the channel was first launched.
Within just four hours, the page reached five million followers, and less than a day after it launched, the channel stands at around 14 million followers.
The Portuguese soccer star's page didn't need more than two hours to surpass Lionel Messi's official YouTube channel, which has about two million followers. However, Messi's channel is updated infrequently.
Despite the buzz around his new channel, Ronaldo boasts no less than 900 million followers across various online platforms, where he shares not just soccer-related content but also updates on his family life, health, nutrition, training, education and business ventures.
"I have always enjoyed having such a strong relationship with fans on social media and my YouTube channel will give me an even bigger platform to do so and they will learn more about me, my family, and my views on many different subjects. I am also looking forward to sharing conversations with guests that will no doubt surprise people," Ronaldo said following the channel’s launch.
Throughout his career, which has spanned over two decades, Ronaldo has won 33 titles, including five UEFA Champions League trophies, five Ballon d'Or awards and three UEFA Player of the Year titles.
Additional records held by the player include the most appearances (183), goals (140), and assists (42) in the Champions League, the most goals in the European Championship (14), the most international goals (130) and the most international appearances (207). To date, he has scored over 896 goals across all competitions, making him the greatest scorer of all time.