New York City FC defender Kai Trewin is the latest player caught in a social-media wave pushing obscure World Cup players into unexpected online fame, and the trend is only accelerating as the tournament approaches.
The 25-year-old Australian has racked up more than 100,000 new Instagram followers after soccer meme pages and TikTok influencers repeatedly pushed his name across their platforms, turning a relatively unknown MLS defender into a talking point for millions of football fans who had never seen him play.
The trend has a clear origin point.
New Zealand defender Tim Payne saw his following explode from around 5,000 to more than 4.6 million after South American influencer Valen Scarsini — known online as “El Scarso” — launched a challenge urging followers to find and boost the least-followed player heading to the tournament.
The idea took off across soccer social media almost immediately, jumping from account to account before mainstream outlets picked it up.
Payne’s surge eventually saw him overtake the official All Blacks rugby team Instagram account, making him one of the most-followed athletes in all of New Zealand almost overnight.
Trewin got caught in the same wave shortly after, appearing in a string of edits and highlight clips that spread rapidly across TikTok and Instagram.
For a player still settling into NYCFC and MLS, the attention represents a kind of fame that has nothing to do with performances on the field and everything to do with being in the right place at the right time on social media.
With the World Cup kicking off next week, this trend shows no sign of stopping.
For players like Trewin and Payne, the real breakthrough this summer may not come on the pitch but on their phones.
