Contributed by Emma Booth.Regional Director, USA Sport Group.
Followers, hashtags and retweets all may sound like a foreign language to some people, but the rise of social networking site Twitter has led to millions of people joining it and telling the world their fears, dreams and what they had for breakfast. And soccer stars are no exception. Some tweets have landed players in hot water, and some use it as a base for interacting with their fans. But who is the best tweeter out there, and who should you follow? Here is my list, let’s see if you agree!
#10: Herculez Gomez @herculezg
Top Tweet: “Just had dinner at home with the parents, they said It was quieter than usual. Maybe no; children, grandchildren, & pets were the reason”
USA striker Herculez Gomez has a picture of him as superman on his twitter page... That alone should be enough to follow him. For the Spanish speakers amongst you, he tweets a lot in Espanyol. I don’t really understand half of it, but I’m sure it’s good!
#9: Wesley Sneijder @sneijder101010
Top Tweet: “On my way to the pitch again... I hope we will see the ball this afternoon... This morning we didn't see the balls!!!!”
Inter Milan and Netherlands midfielder, Sneijder tweets in Dutch, Italian and English. He tweets a lot about his training and match day routines, and also his wife...
#8: Wojciech Szczesny @13Szczesny13
Top Tweet: “Please continue the "Szczesny to Barcelona" rumours. Makes me laugh everytime I read it :) haha”
A pretty funny account from a Premier League goalkeeper; Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny keeps you up to date on training ground rumors, the X Factor, his vacations, and pre and post game antics.
#7: Hope Solo @hopesolo
Top Tweet: “My cat just killed a groundhog! Wow! She's a savage! (and my poor nephew started to cry!) What a cruel world!”
Star of the USA Women’s Team, and this season of Dancing with the Stars, Hope Solo provides a welcome insight into the female world of soccer, both on and off the pitch.
#6: Robin van Persie @Persie_Official
Top Tweet: “First day at arsenal looking forward to this season not so much to u tony colbert (fitness coach) haha”
Another Arsenal tweeter, Dutch striker Robin van Persie seems to tweet pictures on a daily basis. Of himself, of teammates, of fans, of stadiums, and bizarrely, of his socks.
#5: Joey Barton @Joey7Barton
Top Tweet: “If only we as players could tell the fans exactly how it is, without them above fining us lots of money”
QPR midfielder Joey Barton tweets his mind, and definitely has something interesting to say most of the time, but does he ever go too far? His twitter rant when at Newcastle led him to be released on a free transfer; good going!
#4: Michael Owen @themichaelowen
Top Tweet: ”My Mum bought all her Grandsons the Match Attax book today. Spent the afternoon putting it together for James then realised I wasn't in it!”
Manchester United striker Michael Owen gives his views on players, family, soccer and horse racing. Add in some intellectual discussion with journalists and teammates, and you’ve got yourself a nice little twitter account to follow.
#3: Ryan Babel @RyanBabel
Top Tweet: “So today I went shopping, and talk is still cheap.”
Will take up your entire timeline with random rubbish, but very entertaining none the same. He got into a little bit of trouble when posting a picture of a referee wearing an opposition’s shirt after he, in Babel’s opinion, was biased towards the opposition.
#2: Landon Donovan @landondonovan
Top Tweet: “Note to self: next time you make a comment about a Man United player, be prepared for scathing, venomous comments from their fans.“
US superstar Landon Donovan uses twitter to engage with his fans around the world, hosting competitions galore. Landon keeps us entertained with tweets on sporting people, sporting events, sporting articles, and Sporting Lisbon. Okay, not sure if he does tweet about the Portuguese side, but he’s a pretty good tweeter on most other things!
#1: Rio Ferdinand @rioferdy5
Top Tweet: “If u ever see me go off on a stretcher then run back on to play i give every1 on here the green light to hit me with a #2footedtackle!”
Rio Ferdinand is king of the twitter banter. From Piers Morgan to Robbie Savage, and pretty much anyone who tries to rip into him, Ferdinand will always reply with a witty comeback. He seems to tweet more than he sleeps, will retweet fans, offer competitions, publicize charities, and is just generally a good twitter egg. But it was when he started a hashtag trend - #stayonyourfeet - that led to thousands of fans writing it on banners and t-shirts, I realized he is top of the twitter pops.
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