World Cup 2026: ‘little known’ player has half a million followers

“Tim Paine is a defender and he has a tough job: help New Zealand win their first World Cup match. They’ve never won one.

“What to do to be a World Cup hero? Follow Tim Paine first. I’m going to tag him.

“Blast up his posts with likes and comments. We need to start naming Tim Penn everywhere.”

“You need to make a video of Tim Penn feeding the legend. If you have a World Cup album, upload a photo with your sticker.”

A post on Penn’s profile, which celebrated his 50th appearance for New Zealand in March, now has more than 50,000 comments.

Payne, 32, had a goal and four assists during the All Whites’ World Cup qualifying campaign and was included in Darren Bezeley’s 26-man squad for the country’s third finals.

The tournament’s lowest-ranked team, New Zealand will begin their first campaign since 2010 against Iran, Egypt and Belgium to advance from Group G.

In a follow-up video Scarcini revealed that Payne had messaged him about the amazing attention his account was getting.

“I was wondering why my socials are blowing up and found your post, man,” wrote Payne, who signed for Blackburn Rovers as a teenager in 2012.

“Praise the love! Thanks bro.”

Paine has now posted a video message from New Zealand’s pre-World Cup training camp in Florida.

Speaking initially in Spanish, Payne said: “Please excuse my Spanish, I’m still practicing on Duolingo,” before continuing in English.

“Just wanted to say a massive thank you first, Valen, it’s been a lovely 48 hours to say the least.

“I also just wanted to express how grateful I am to represent my country at this World Cup, and I appreciate all the love from around the world.

“Thank you very much.”

Scarcini pulled off a similar feat last year, when second-tier Swiss side FC Balzer’s Instagram followers – the football club with the “smallest fan base” by his estimation – far exceeded top-tier champions FC Basel’s after releasing a video urging his followers.

At the start of the 2025/2026 season, Sunderland attracted a huge following from across the Atlantic After a popular Mexico soccer account threw their support behind the black cats.