New Zealand&x27;s Tim Payne goes from unknown to viral sensation ahead of World Cup Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAYSat, May 30, 2026 at 3:47 AM UTC 0 Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar. All household names that any soccer fan — or casual sports fan, honestly — instantly recognizes. How about Tim Payne? A week ago, it might have been the name of the mailman or a local laywer. But now, it&x27;s the soccer player the internet is buzzing about just weeks ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Payne is a defender who is on New Zealand&x27;s 26man roster for the upcoming tournament.
New Zealand's Tim Payne goes from unknown to viral sensation ahead of World Cup
Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAYSat, May 30, 2026 at 3:47 AM UTC
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Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar.
All household names that any soccer fan — or casual sports fan, honestly — instantly recognizes.
How about Tim Payne?
A week ago, it might have been the name of the mailman or a local laywer.
But now, it's the soccer player the internet is buzzing about just weeks ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Payne is a defender who is on New Zealand's 26-man roster for the upcoming tournament. The 32-year-old plays for the Wellington Phoenix, a team in the Australian A-League. New Zealand isn't exactly a soccer powerhouse. The All Whites will be playing in their third World Cup this summer and have never made it out of the group stage.
But Payne is a celebrity before he even plays his first World Cup match when New Zealand takes on Iran on June 15 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in Group G play.
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Earlier this week, his Instagram page skyrocketed to 2 million followers in 48 hours. He happened to be chosen by Argentinian soccer influencer and content creator Valen Scarsini to highlight as the "least-known player in the World Cup." Scarsini, who goes by the nickname "El Scarsco," published a video on Tuesday, May 26 to his nearly 2 million followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. He broke down how he went through all 48 nations in the field and decided on Payne, encouraging his followers to post about him and, saying in his caption in Spanish, "May he be the main character of the World Cup!"
Well, fans listened and flocked to Payne's Instagram page, which had only 4,715 followers before he went viral. They followed him in droves and created the tagline, "No Payne, No Gain." KitKat, Samsung, Pizza Hut and the NFL Mexico Instagram accounts were commenting on his posts. Fans on X were pulling his Panini World Cup card and asking if they should keep it or "sell for millions?" He received so much attention that the official Instagram account for the World Cup posted a gallery of images of Payne with the caption, "Two words: Tim Payne."
Scarsini published follow-up posts chronicling the journey, including a post celebrating Payne crossing the 2 million follower mark while holding up two celebratory drinks.
On Thursday, May 28, Payne responded with his own thank you video on Instagram. He started by speaking in Spanish, which he said he learned via Duolingo, and then thanked Scarsini in English.
"It's been a pretty crazy 48 hours to say the least," he continued in English with Spanish captions on the video. "I just also wanted to 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."
At the time of publication, Payne's Instagram has 2.4 million followers. That's more than USMNT stars Timothy Weah, Gio Reyna and Matt Turner combined.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tim Payne goes from unknown to viral sensation ahead of World Cup
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: Sports
Published: May 30, 2026 at 12:27AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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