Star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo continues to dominate social media conversations around the World Cup, despite the exit of his team Portugal more than one week ago. New research from Meltwater Buzz reveals that Ronaldo stays top with a 21 per cent share of voice during the quarter -finals week, a one per cent gain over his share of voice during the group stages of the tournament. Ronaldo’s lead is likely to have been spurred by news that he has just fathered a baby boy. He remains seven percentage points ahead of Spanish striker David Villa, who has surged from seventh to second during the quarter-finals. Brazilian playmaker Robinho remains in third spot, despite a two percent decrease. Meanwhile, three players are ranked fifth with an eight per cent share: Argentina’s Lionel Messi and the England duo of Wayne Rooney and David James. In terms of brands, official sponsor Adidas has slipped slightly in its efforts to claw back share against bitter rival Nike. Led by a popular viral advertising spot, Nike took an early lead in the social media buzz rankings, before Adidas closed the gap over the following two weeks. In the latest instalment of the research, however, Nike has extended its lead to 29 per cent, ahead of Adidas’ 24 per cent. The poor performance of the many Nike endorsers featured in the video ad, including Rooney, Franck Ribery and Didier Drogba, may have fuelled this increase. Another sponsor, Budweiser, has seen its share of voice decrease from seven per cent to just three per cent, after enjoying an earlier spike thanks to the ambush marketing activities of rival brand Bavaria. The analysis conducted by Meltwater Buzz uses algorithms that search for brand names along with qualifier keywords such as ‘World Cup’, ‘soccer’, ‘FIFA’, ‘football’.