'No Payne, no gain': How 'least known' World Cup player Tim Payne earned the love of millions online

Every time Tim Payne picked up his phone, a string of notifications popped up on his lock screen. A new follow, a new like, a new comment on Instagram.

That was pretty unusual for the low-profile New Zealand football player, who isn't very active on the platform and had around 4,700 followers on his page until earlier this week.

But the last 48 hours have completely turned his life around.

A surge of love, all the way from the other end of the world in South America, has made the All Whites defender an overnight sensation. An accidental hero, if you will.

Every few hours you refresh his profile, the number goes up, and at the time of writing on 29 May, the London 2012 Olympian has hit a whopping 1.7 million followers.

So how does a player from New Zealand become famous in Argentina, a country almost 10,000 kilometres away from his homeland?

The answer is simple: welcome to the love for the beautiful game and the power of social media.

'Least known player' at the World Cup

Payne caught global attention this week when Argentine social media influencer Valen Scarsini was on the lookout for what he called "the least known player" heading to the FIFA World Cup 2026, and picked the New Zealander as his candidate.

With 50 caps to his name, Payne has been part of the New Zealand setup for more than a decade, but at No. 75, the Oceania side is the lowest-ranked in this year's tournament.

In an attempt to shower love on the underdogs and Payne, Scarsini, known as "elscarso" on social media, urged his hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram to get behind the defender.

"Explode his posts with likes and comments. We need to start naming Tim Payne everywhere," said Scarsini, as the Argentine fans got working.

In under 48 hours, numbers rose at a rate of almost 1,000 per minute, as Payne crossed the one million follower mark and became the most-followed football player account in New Zealand, far surpassing the online fame of captain Chris Wood, who has long been the face of the team.

The 32-year-old, who plays club football for Wellington Phoenix in Australia's top-flight, also outstripped New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, All ​Blacks rugby star Ardie Savea, and Scarsini, himself.

"Please excuse my Spanish, I'm still practising on Duolingo," Payne started his message in an Instagram video in Spanish.

He continued in English: "Just wanna say a massive thank you, first to you, Valen. It's been a pretty crazy 48 hours, to say the least.

"I just wanted to also express that I am very grateful to represent my country at this World Cup. And I appreciate all the love from all around the world.

"Muchas gracias."

'No Payne, no gain'

Payne's new fans are making up for lost time by flooding his old posts on Instagram with likes and comments.

"Been loving you since the day I saw you (today)" said a fan in the comments. Another added: "My mother gave me life, and Tim gave me the will to live it. Go Tim!! This World Cup is yours! 🔥"

The fans' newfound obsession reached another level when a supporter created a compilation of Payne's goal-scoring clips, stitching it together with a Spanish song that's now trending as "No Payne, no gain".

It starts by drawing comparisons with Spain's teen prodigy Lamine Yamal before dubbing Payne as the new Ángel Di María - the winger who was part of Argentina's 2022 World Cup-winning team.

"This won't be the World Cup of Yamal," the translation reads.

"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."

The minute-long song, which has amassed nearly three million views since being shared by Wellington and the A-League, ends with: "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."

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