“Just want to say a massive thank you first to you, Valen,“ Payne continued in English. “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.”
The shock fanfare has even led to the emergence of a song about Payne, in which fans chant: “No Payne, no gain!”
Payne now has the biggest following for any New Zealand-related football account.
All Whites captain Chris Wood has 162,000 followers on Instagram, while the All Whites, the Wellington Phoenix and Auckland FC all have fewer than 100,000.
In a video spoken in Spanish that has more than seven million views on Instagram and more than two million on TikTok, Scarsini said he wanted to make the “least-known footballer” at the tournament famous.
“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.
“Within group G, in New Zealand, is Tim Payne.
“He is really the least known. He does not reach 5000 followers.
“Tim Payne is a defender and has a very difficult task: help New Zealand win their first World Cup match. They have never won one.
“What needs to be done to be the hero of the World Cup? First, follow Tim Payne. I’m going to tag him.
“Explode his posts with likes and comments. We need to start naming Tim Payne everywhere.
“You have to make videos feeding the legend of Tim Payne. If you have the World Cup album, upload a photo with your sticker.”
Payne’s sudden fame has been supported by several Spanish-speaking personalities, including comedian Javier Ibarreche, who has 12.6 million followers on TikTok, and sports journalist Iker Ruiz del Barco, who has nearly 14 million followers across his social media accounts.
The All Whites are currently in Florida preparing for their warm-up matches against Haiti on Wednesday and England next Sunday.
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.
