Tim Payne - least-known World Cup player and its biggest star
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Reading Time: 4min | Sun. 31.05.26. | 17:57
The power of social media is truly incredible (and a bit scary), and the New Zealand defender Tim Payne felt it firsthand
All credit to Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, and all the other global football superstars, but at the moment, the most popular name of the upcoming World Cup is a man hardly anyone had heard of until a few days ago - Tim Payne.
And all that thanks to one influencer and the power of social media, which once again proved both incredible and somewhat frightening.
But let's start from the beginning...
A couple of days ago, the Argentinian influencer Valen Scarsini, aka El Scarso, decided to find the least popular player featuring in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Tim Payne's name emerged.
A 32-year-old New Zealand defender, who plays for Wellington Phoenix at the club level, has only around 4,400 followers on Instagram.
So, Valen urged his followers to show some appreciation for Payne and give him a follow on social media, and the whole thing exploded and went extremely viral!
In the first 24 hours following the "public appeal", the New Zealander had already reached 400,000 followers. At the time of writing, that incredible figure stands at 2.9 million!
Tim Payne in action for Wellington Phoenix (©Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)Although shocked by this unexpected situation, Payne has found a way to handle it. He's started learning Spanish in order to thank his South American fans for their support, while they even made a song about him whose lyrics (translated into English) are absolutely hilarious.
As my grandfather used to say: watch out for Tim Payne in the World Cup.
He's the new Di Maria; I've got his back, I cheer him on.
I've been rooting for him from the very beginning. With Tim Payne, from cradle to grave.
You're a crack. I cheer you on with every step. Every cross that goes into the box.
Every time you twist your hips, no Payne, no gain, no Payne, no gain.
He's the true king of the team, of the people. No Payne, no gain, no Payne, no gain.
And I'll always be there for you at every game.
As for Payne himself, he's remained humble despite the whole fuss around him and never missed a chance to point out how honoured he is for having a chance to represent his country at the World Cup.
"Yeah, I think it was 2 or 3 days ago, just one afternoon, just started getting a few random notifications, and then I looked on my Instagram and noticed that someone had tagged me in a video, and it was obviously in Spanish."
"So, my Spanish isn't very good, so I passed it on to my missus, who is fluent in Spanish and was able to let me know what it was saying. And then I think by the time I'd woken up the next morning, there was hundreds of thousands of follows. So yeah, it was pretty crazy."
"Probably, as everyone can tell, I'm not massive on social media. So, for that to happen is a bit strange for me. I think, at the same time, I'm trying to embrace it all. I think it's hard. I'm trying to think, process it all at the same time, and have a bit of laugh and a bit of banter with it."
"I think it's come from a cool place, in terms of how positive it's been. Probably this time last week, I was coming into camp just trying to prepare for a World Cup. And now, I've got millions of people from multiple countries following my Instagram and following, I guess, my journey and New Zealand."
"I hope that we as a team and a nation can make all those people proud and have something for them to cheer," Payne said via New Zealand national team social media.
Once the World Cup kicks off, the world may gradually forget about this unexpected hero as football's biggest stars take centre stage.
Still, this period will undoubtedly remain one of the most memorable chapters of Payne's life, while a relatively small football nation like New Zealand will enjoy unprecedented support from all around the globe during their World Cup campaign and group-stage clashes against Iran, Egypt and Belgium.