All Whites defender gains more than one million Instagram followers overnight

[p]The right-back, who plays his club football for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/wellington-phoenix/Ctp2DG8J/"]Wellington Phoenix[/a] in the A League, has gained more than one million followers on Instagram in just two days to become [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/new-zealand/rLctHkpU/"]New Zealand[/a]'s most followed football account.[/p][p]On Wednesday, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/payne-tim/Gd2DkZCC/"]Payne[/a] had just 4,000 followers before social media influencer Valen Scarsini, known as 'elscarso' online, began a campaign to boost the World Cup's least followed footballer.[/p][p]"[b]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,[/b]" Scarsini said on Wednesday.[/p][p]"[b]Within group G, in New Zealand, is Tim Payne. He is really the least known. He does not reach 5000 followers.[/b]"[/p][p]Scarsini asked people to "[b]explode his posts with likes and comments[/b]" to make Payne a household name.[/p][embed guid="44a1d3b8-8a71-48a6-be9f-9e3567c0b833" url="https://www.instagram.com/433/p/DY5VIgZETaC/?hl=en" social-type="instagram" /][p]Two days on and Payne now has more than 1 million followers on Instagram, forcing a rare post while in a pre-World Cup camp in Florida.[/p][p]Speaking initially in Spanish, Payne thanked fans for the support.[/p][p]"[b]Please excuse my Spanish, I'm still practising on Duolingo,[/b]" he said on Friday, before continuing in English.[/p][p]"Just want to say a massive thank you first to you, Valen, it's been a pretty crazy 48 hours to say the least.[/p][p]"[b]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.[/b]"[/p][embed guid="61eac954-1f66-4e19-a93d-607168a0fea1" url="https://www.instagram.com/timpayne__/reel/DY5SclgtX1-/?hl=en" social-type="instagram" /][p]Payne now has more followers than New Zealand's All Whites, which are yet to reach 45,000, and his national team captain, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Nottingham Forest[/a] striker Chris Wood, who has 162 thousand followers.[/p][p]New Zealand plays [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iran/xrRx85iA/"]Iran[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/egypt/bejDn7NN/"]Egypt[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/belgium/GbB957na/"]Belgium[/a] in their World Cup pool, and are seeking to win their first World Cup match at the third attempt.[/p]