On May 26, Tim Payne was unknown. One of over 1,000 players set to play in the World Cup. At 32, he had 4,715 followers on Instagram, a result of his modest career in the New Zealand league, the country he was representing in the World Cup. But three weeks later, Payne is an Internet sensation.
He now has six million Instagram followers, secured a sponsorship deal with McDonald's, played his first minutes in a World Cup, provided an assist against Egypt, and just signed with Olimpia Club in Paraguay, a dominant force in the national championship and one of the most important clubs in South America, with three Copa Libertadores titles.
"I'm still processing and getting used to it," stated the New Zealand footballer on FIFA's official website, one of the few, if not the only one, to have had a chat with the international defender in recent weeks. The New Zealand national team's communication department has received "over 5,000" interview requests since Payne rose to Internet fame thanks to an Argentine influencer named Valen Scarsini, known as El Scarso.
"I'm still the same person"
In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, this content creator posted a video urging his followers to "support the least known player in the entire tournament." "What if there was a player who could unite us all?" he asked his followers.
Scarsini explained that he had searched "among all the teams competing in the World Cup, analyzing each squad, looking for the least known player." "And I found Tim Payne. He posted a photo with his national team and only got 200 likes," he added.
A few days later, the phenomenon went completely viral, and Scarsini himself saw his follower count rise to a million, also becoming an Internet star. "The best part is that everything has been from a positive perspective; I'm still the same person. A New Zealand guy who works very hard and tries to represent his country on a global stage. That will never change," admitted the footballer during a chat with FIFA.
Payne had played over 50 matches for the New Zealand national team since his debut in 2012, but none like his World Cup debut. During that match against Iran in Los Angeles, fans showed up wearing shirts in support of Payne, and brands sought to capitalize on the media frenzy.
Duolingo, the language platform, launched an initiative to help him learn Spanish to engage with the millions of Argentine followers who had started following him because of Scarsini; McDonald's ran a campaign with cups featuring his face and name, and Argentine fans even created a song for him.
In just a few days, Payne's follower count surpassed the entire population of New Zealand [5.3 million inhabitants], nearing that of the Spanish national team on Instagram and matching, for example, Victor Wembanyama, the new rising star in the NBA. In other words, Payne has become a true media phenomenon.
The question experts asked when his name went viral was whether the player could leverage the attention to also enhance his football career. Well, we now have an answer. Last Thursday, Olimpia Club in Paraguay, the 1979 Intercontinental Cup champion, announced his signing. This move can only be explained by the six million followers the right-back gained in just a few days. Otherwise, it's hard to believe that a Paraguayan club would have set its sights on a 32-year-old New Zealand defender.
"Obviously for us, we're not going to hide it, we're not going to deny it, the signing plays a significant role in our global brand consolidation strategy. The idea is to strengthen our brand globally," acknowledged Rodrigo Nogués, president of Olimpia Club.
Meanwhile, Payne explained his decision and also linked it to his family. His wife is from Costa Rica, and for the player, "it's an opportunity for our son to grow up in the same culture his mother did." "And from a football perspective, playing at the highest level of South American football, in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, is an incredible opportunity," he wrote on his social media.
The former Wellington Phoenix player in the A-League, the league for clubs in Australia and New Zealand, will now seek to increase his market value, which according to Transfermarkt is currently only 350,000 euros. However, this figure seems not to have taken into account the media impact of his social media followers. He will move from the eighth-placed team in the A-League to the last Apertura Tournament champion in Paraguay. That's the new football reality.