Tim Payne Instagram Followers 2026: All Whites Star Goes Viral
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| Tim Payne surpasses Chris Wood as NZ’s top footballer on instagram |
New Zealand defender Tim Payne went from 4,000 to over 1 million Instagram followers after an influencer campaign. He’s now NZ’s most followed footballer ahead of the World Cup.
Ahead of World Cup games vs Iran, Egypt and Belgium, Tim Payne became New Zealand’s most followed footballer. He now has more followers than the All Whites and captain Chris Wood...
New Zealand World Cup defender Tim Payne called it “pretty crazy” on Friday. An influencer tagged him as the “least known” player in the tournament and urged fans to follow him. Payne is now the most followed footballer in the country.
The right-back plays for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. He picked up over one million Instagram followers in just two days. That pushed him to the top of New Zealand’s football accounts.
On Wednesday Payne only had 4,000 followers. Then social media influencer Valen Scarsini, known online as ‘elscarso’, started a push to support the World Cup’s least followed player.
“I looked at all the teams that play the World Cup for the least-known player and, after analysing one by one, I found it,” Scarsini said on Wednesday.
“Within group G, in New Zealand, is Tim Payne. He is really the least known. He does not reach 5000 followers.”
Scarsini asked people to “explode his posts with likes and comments” to make Payne a household name.
Two days later and Payne’s Instagram jumped past one million followers. The surge even forced him to post while he’s with the team at a pre-World Cup camp in Florida.
He started his message in Spanish to thank fans for the support.
“Please excuse my Spanish, I'm still practising on Duolingo,” he said on Friday, before continuing in English.
“Just want to 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'm very grateful to represent my country at this World Cup, and I appreciate all the love from all around the world. Muchas gracias.”
Payne now has more followers than the All Whites official account, which is still under 45,000. He also passed New Zealand captain Chris Wood. The Nottingham Forest striker sits at 162,000 followers.
New Zealand are in a World Cup group with Iran, Egypt and Belgium. The All Whites are chasing their first ever World Cup win at their third tournament.
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