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Handball vs basketball vs volleyball: The Instagram numbers behind European indoor sports

By Editor

Posted on 5. June 2026.

The digital strength of European indoor sports is becoming an increasingly important indicator of their commercial potential, international visibility and ability to engage younger audiences. While budgets, TV contracts, arena attendances and sponsorship deals remain the traditional measures of power, Instagram numbers offer another clear picture of where basketball, handball and volleyball stand in the modern sports media landscape.

An analysis of Instagram followers among clubs competing in the Basketball EuroLeague, EHF Champions League and CEV Champions League shows a clear hierarchy. Basketball is far ahead of both handball and volleyball. However, when handball and volleyball are compared directly, the picture is more interesting: volleyball has a stronger official competition account, but handball clubs have a stronger collective Instagram presence.

Based on the club accounts included in this comparison, Basketball EuroLeague clubs have a combined total of approximately 12.51 million Instagram followers. EHF Champions League clubs count around 2.17 million followers, while the CEV Champions League volleyball clubs in this analysis have around 2.01 million followers.

That means EuroLeague basketball clubs have almost six times more followers than EHF Champions League clubs, and more than six times more than the volleyball clubs included in the CEV Champions League comparison.

However, the gap between handball and volleyball is much smaller. Handball clubs in this analysis have a slightly higher total number of followers than volleyball clubs — 2.17 million compared to 2.01 million. The difference becomes more important when looking at the median club profile, which better represents the strength of a “typical” club because it is less influenced by one or two very large accounts.

The median Basketball EuroLeague club has around 240,000 Instagram followers. In the EHF Champions League, the median club profile stands at around 82,900 followers, while in the volleyball comparison the median club has around 35,350 followers.

This shows that the “middle” Basketball EuroLeague club is almost three times stronger than the middle EHF Champions League club, and almost seven times stronger than the middle volleyball club. At the same time, the middle handball club is around 2.3 times stronger than the middle volleyball club.

The official competition accounts tell a slightly different story. The Basketball EuroLeague official Instagram profile leads with around 1.4 million followers. The official CEV account has around 685,000 followers, while the EHF Champions League account has around 571,000 followers.

This is the most important point in the handball-volleyball comparison: volleyball has a stronger central competition platform, but handball has a stronger club base.

Basketball remains in a different digital category

Basketball is clearly the strongest of the three sports on Instagram. The Basketball EuroLeague benefits from several global or very strong multi-sport brands such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos, Partizan, Olympiacos and Crvena zvezda.

Real Madrid Basketball alone has 5.3 million Instagram followers, more than the combined total of all EHF Champions League clubs included in the handball comparison. Fenerbahce and Barcelona also bring massive digital weight, with 1.6 million and 1.4 million followers respectively.

The strength of basketball is not only based on one or two clubs. The depth is also much stronger. Clubs such as Panathinaikos, Partizan, Olympiacos, Crvena zvezda, Bayern, Efes, Paris, Zalgiris, Milano and Valencia all have significant online audiences. This creates a much broader and more commercially attractive digital ecosystem.

Handball has stronger clubs than volleyball, but weaker central promotion

In the handball list, FC Barcelona Handball leads with 696,000 followers, followed by PSG Handball with 459,000 and Sporting CP with 235,000. Füchse Berlin, SC Magdeburg, Kielce, HBC Nantes, Aalborg and Veszprem also form a solid second layer of clubs with strong or growing audiences.

Compared with volleyball, handball has a better median number and a stronger overall club structure on Instagram. This suggests that the EHF Champions League clubs have more consistent digital visibility than volleyball clubs.

However, the EHF Champions League official profile is still behind CEV. The CEV account has 685,000 followers, compared to 571,000 for the EHF Champions League. This shows that volleyball’s central digital platform performs better than handball’s official Champions League platform, even though the club base is weaker.

For handball, this is both a warning and an opportunity. The sport has high-quality competitions, strong clubs, passionate fan bases and some of the best indoor sports atmospheres in Europe. But the central digital storytelling of the competition still has room to grow.

Volleyball has strong peaks, but lower depth

Volleyball has several strong club profiles in this comparison. Galatasaray leads the CEV list with 393,000 followers, followed by Perugia with 370,000, Lube with 279,000, Sporting CP with 235,000 and Trentino with 233,000.

The top of the volleyball list is competitive with handball. Galatasaray and Perugia are stronger than most handball clubs, while Lube, Sporting and Trentino also represent serious digital brands.

The problem for volleyball is depth. After the strongest clubs, the follower numbers drop quickly. Several clubs are below 30,000 followers, and some are below 10,000. That is why the median volleyball club profile is only 35,350 followers, much lower than handball’s 82,900.

This means that volleyball has strong peaks, but handball has a stronger middle class of clubs.

Overall conclusion

The Instagram comparison between basketball, handball and volleyball confirms three different realities.

Basketball is far ahead. The Basketball EuroLeague is operating in a much larger digital ecosystem, powered by some of the biggest sports brands in Europe. Its clubs have a combined Instagram audience of more than 12.5 million followers, with a median club profile of 240,000.

Handball is clearly behind basketball, but still ahead of volleyball at club level. EHF Champions League clubs have more total followers and a much stronger median than the volleyball clubs in this comparison. This means that, based on club Instagram accounts, handball has a stronger and more stable digital base.

Volleyball, however, performs better through its central official account. CEV has more followers than the EHF Champions League profile, showing that volleyball has done a better job of building a strong central digital platform.

For handball, the message is clear: the club base is stronger than many people may think, but the official competition platform and international storytelling need to become more powerful. If the EHF Champions League wants to close the digital gap with basketball and stay ahead of volleyball, it must invest more in player branding, short-form video, behind-the-scenes content, club collaboration and global fan engagement.

Overall Instagram comparison

Official competition accounts

Basketball EuroLeague clubs – Instagram followers

EHF Champions League clubs – Instagram followers

CEV Champions League / Volleyball clubs – Instagram followers