Overview
- Payne’s Instagram follower count jumped from roughly 4,000 to about 1.4 million in roughly 48 hours, reaching that level by Friday.
- Argentine influencer Valen Scarsini, who has about 550,000–580,000 followers, identified Payne as the least-followed World Cup player and urged followers to flood Payne’s posts with likes and comments.
- Payne, a 32-year-old right-back for Wellington Phoenix, posted a video from New Zealand’s training camp in Florida thanking Scarsini and international fans for the ‘pretty crazy’ surge.
- The rapid gain made Payne the most-followed New Zealand football-related Instagram account, surpassing the All Whites team account and captain Chris Wood.
- The episode highlights how influencer-driven campaigns can quickly raise visibility for players from smaller football markets and could bring commercial interest and extra attention to New Zealand ahead of its Group G World Cup matches with Iran, Egypt and Belgium.