New Zealand footballer Tim Payne goes viral after Argentine influencer backs least-known World Cup player

New Zealand footballer Tim Payne may have been one of the least-known players at the 2026 World Cup, but he has unexpectedly become one of the tournament’s breakout stars after an Argentine influencer helped him go viral. Valen Scarsini, a young Argentine content creator focused on football, sent his followers on a mission: “What if we make the least-known player the protagonist of the World Cup?” In a video posted to Instagram and TikTok on Tuesday, Scarsini said he wanted to find a player that would “unite everyone” beyond nationalities. With this goal, he looked up the Instagram following count of all players that will take part in the World Cup until he found the one with the least followers. Before Scarsini’s video, Payne had just 4,715 followers. Just three days later, his follower count skyrocketed to 1.7 million, and his posts gathered thousands of likes and comments. A star is born Tim Payne will play in the World Cup that starts in June as a defender of New Zealand’s national team, the All Whites. He is currently part of Australia’s A-League team Wellington Phoenix. “He has a very difficult task: helping New Zealand win its first World Cup match,” Scarsini told his large following on TikTok and Instagram. He called users to start following Payne on Instagram, liking and commenting on his posts, posing with his World Cup collectible sticker, and talking about Payne “everywhere.” “We need to make videos feeding on the legend of Tim Payne. The goal is to see how many people are talking about him before the tournament begins,” he said, about the June 11 start. Payne said he was happily shocked to see the sudden wave of support and posted a video thanking everyone, speaking in Spanish. “Hello everyone, thank you so much for the support. Excuse my Spanish, I’m still practicing on Duolingo,” the player said, speaking with a strong accent in Spanish, in the video posted on Thursday. Switching to English, he also sent a “massive thank you” to Scarsini. “It’s been a pretty crazy 48 hours to say the least,” he said. “I just wanted to also express that I’m very grateful to be representing my country at this World Cup, and I appreciate all the love from all around the world.” Football fever Argentine football fans are known for being very passionate, and online behavior is not the exception. The attention even led to Payne and Scarsini getting comments from Duolingo and brands like KFC and McDonald’s. Just hours into the craze, Scarsini shared that he had shared private messages with Payne, who didn’t know why his socials were “blowing up” until he saw the video. “This got out of control!,” the influencer admitted. On Thursday, Scarsini celebrated that “Tim Payne is already a legend” and that Argentine clothing stores are selling T-shirts of the defender. Payne’s thousands of new fans will see him play in New Zealand’s first World Cup match on June 15, when they will face Iran. The team will also play friendly matches against Haiti and England next week. You may also be interested in: Here’s Argentina’s path to repeat its World Cup victory in 2026