Why Tim Payne, the “least known” footballer of the 2026 World Cup, is now viral
An Argentine influencer confirmed that Tim Payne was the footballer with the fewest followers in the 2026 World Cup, so he activated a campaign to make it viral
From 4,700 followers on Instagram to more than 1 million in just two days. The player Tim Payne, who will compete in the World Cup with New Zealand, is experiencing a curious viralization on social networks, after an Argentine influencer described him as “the least known footballer” of the 2026 World Cup.
Valen Scarsini, known digitally as Scarso and with more than 700,000 followers on TikTok, published a video that starts with a challenge: “What if we make the least known footballer the protagonist of the World Cup?”
His idea was that the figure of Tim Payne would unite everyone for the same cause, that is, the “we are all Tim Payne” strategy that finally worked very well.
Although there are dozens of footballers in the 2026 World Cup who are very little known internationally, especially from those modest teams such as Curacao, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cape Verde, among others, Scarso clarified that he did an analysis of all the teams and found that Tim Payne had the smallest number of followers on social networks.
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Who is New Zealander Tim Payne
Timothy John Payne was born in 1994 (32 years old) and plays as a right back in New Zealand, although he can also play as a midfielder. As well as playing for his country, Tim has seen action in England; with Blackburn Rovers, and in the United States; with Portland Timbers 2.
He also played for Auckland City, New Zealand's winningest club, and currently plays for Wellington Phoenix FC of the A-League.
"Thank you very much for all the support. Excuse my Spanish," Payne said in a video published this Thursday. Now with 1.7 million followers, the footballer thanked “the love from around the world.”
He also decided to speak in Spanish, since the initiative to make it viral comes from an Argentine influencer. They even invented a fan song using his name, to the rhythm of cumbia and where they call him “the new Di María.”
For his part, content creator Scarso acknowledged that the trend got out of hand, making it clear that he did not expect that, as a result of his request, Tim Payne would become “a legend.”
New Zealand will play its third World Cup in history, an event where it has never won a match and has only scored four goals. The World Cup will start on June 15 for the oceanic team, the date on which they will face Iran. Next, they will play against Egypt (June 21) and will close the phase against Belgium (June 26).
Their last appearance in the World Cup had been in South Africa 2010, where curiously they tied all three matches in the group stage, leaving them just one point away from a historic qualification to the round of 16. At that time, it equaled Paraguay, Slovakia and Italy.
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