NZ defender Tim Payne reaches 1,000,000 Instagram followers

A New Zealand footballer has become a global social media phenomenon in the days before the FIFA World Cup, after an Argentine influencer launched a campaign to make him famous. Defender Tim Payne, 32, saw his Instagram following skyrocket from around 4,700 to over a million in a matter of days following the appeal from content creator Valen Scarsini.

Scarsini, known online as El Scarso, identified Payne as the least-known player at the upcoming tournament in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. In a video to his substantial following, Scarsini said he had analyzed every national team to find the player with the smallest social media presence. He declared that player to be Tim Payne of New Zealand's All Whites, who at the time had fewer than 5,000 followers.

Scarsini urged his audience to unite behind Payne, regardless of nationality. He asked followers to flood Payne's social media accounts with likes and comments, create videos about him, and share photos of his World Cup sticker. The goal, he said, was to see how many people could learn Payne's name before the tournament begins. The campaign went viral, with Payne's follower count growing at a reported rate of nearly 1,000...