New Zealand defender Tim Payne gains 4.2 million Instagram followers after viral World Cup post

New Zealand defender Tim Payne has accumulated 4.2 million Instagram followers in less than a week — up from just 4,715 — after Argentine influencer Valen Scarsini declared him the least-known player at the World Cup and directed his own audience toward Payne’s profile.

Scarsini, known online as “elscarso”, sparked the phenomenon last week ahead of New Zealand’s World Cup preparations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The surge has taken Payne’s following past several of New Zealand’s most recognisable sporting figures, including cricketer Kane Williamson (3.3 million followers) and the All Blacks rugby team (2.8 million).

Payne responded last Friday with a video thanking Scarsini in Spanish, describing the preceding 48 hours as “pretty crazy.” His feed has since filled with messages of support in multiple languages, including one follower’s note: “Our GOAT. No Payne, no gain.”

New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley acknowledged the scale of the attention while admitting he was not well-versed in how viral social media works. “I’m not very social media-savvy. From my understanding it’s obviously a big deal, the numbers they’re talking about is huge,” Bazeley told reporters in Fort Lauderdale. “I think Tim’s dealing with it really well. He’s probably the type of person who doesn’t get over-excited with too much. He knows why he’s here and what he wants to get from this tournament.”

Bazeley also noted the lighter side of the situation within the squad. “I’m sure the boys are giving him a bit of stick along the way. I think he’s got a song and stuff like that.”

Midfielder Marko Stamenic said the episode had not distracted Payne from the task at hand. “It honestly just shows the power of social media,” Stamenic said. “He’s fully focused on what task we have here.”

Scarsini has since announced he is travelling to Florida to watch New Zealand’s World Cup warm-up friendly against Haiti and intends to meet Payne after the match. Bazeley reflected on the unexpected turn of events: “Sometimes you think you won’t see anything that’s different. It’s a game of football, 11 v 11, same pitch, same ball. But we’ve come here and something different has happened with this.”