lol at all the exceptions. So no one stans players EXCEPT those particular 5-6 big players OR if they're from countries that don't have a strong soccer tradition OR if they're supporting their fellow country people.
Those "exceptions" cover literally billions of people.
That's another massive "exception". Since most global fans tend to stan the same few teams, and all the best players cycle through those same teams, then damn near all the best players end up with stans who don't suddenly stop following them the moment they play for some other club.
4 of the 8 most popular players in the UK right now are Messi, Ronaldo, Modric, and Mane. None of those play for the UK National Team OR for a British club, so how are they the most popular players there if they don't have their own stans? Neymar, Muller, Kane, Lewandowski, Eriksen, Benzema are all among the favorite players globally too. Are we really going to pretend that soccer fans only root for those guys when they're on their favorite club team, and aren't following them when they're in the World Cup or other situations too?