Vozinha, Tim Payne, and the World Cup players are widely circulated on social media
The World Cup always creates unlikely heroes. In 2026, it also turns them into social media sensations.
The latest example is Cape Verde goalkeeper Josimar José Évora Dias, better known as Vozinha, who entered Monday’s match against Spain with an estimated 50,000 followers on Instagram and a 19-year career largely unknown to casual football fans. But after helping Cape Verde to hold one of the tournament’s favorites to a 0-0 draw in the very first match of the World Cup, his following has reached 12 million.
His performance in the game gave the internet plenty to work with. The goalkeeper, 40, scored seven goals against Spain, taking 27 shots but failing to score. Vozinha was named Man of the Match – and digital darling.
His initial attention came from Brazilian broadcaster Casimiro “Cazé” Miguel and his platform CazéTV, a digital sports broadcaster with rights to all 104 World Cup matches in Brazil. The channel, which has more than 31 million YouTube subscribers, is known for its broadcast-like style of broadcasting built around fan participation.
During the game, Cazé noticed Vozinha’s small following on Instagram and asked viewers to follow him. Vozinha went from about 50,000 fans before the game to over 1 million just after the final whistle, and almost 10 million less than 24 hours later – surpassing NBA legends Victor Wembanyama and Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes.
Mashable Trend Report
His sudden fame did more than improve his metrics. After the game, Vozinha broke down when he revealed emotionally that his mother could not go because of visa and cost issues. Now his story has prompted the US State Department to intervene, he says he is working to help his family with visa services.
Vozinha may be the tournament’s latest protagonist, but he is not the first. Before the tournament began, New Zealand full-back Tim Payne was the subject of a similar campaign after Argentine promoter Valen Scarsini, also known as El Scarso, was determined to get “the most popular player” at the World Cup. Payne had less than 5,000 Instagram followers at the time, but after Scarsini encouraged his audience to support him, Payne’s followers rose to 6 million.
Australia’s Kai Trewin also saw his profile rise after creator RubikayTV pushed a campaign to make him the “Cristiano Ronaldo of the World Cup,” helping his followers jump from around 3,000 to more than 100,000. And Curaçao’s pro goalkeeper Trevor Doornbusch has gained tens of thousands of fans after a shout-out from soccer promoter FiagoBall.
This trend clearly shows how this world cup is distributed and viewed. FIFA named TikTok its first-ever popular video content platform for this year’s World Cup and reached an agreement with YouTube that allows broadcasters to live-stream the first 10 minutes of every match. Those deals have made the tournament as accessible to audiences following the games through clips, live streams, creator commentary, and social feeds as traditional broadcasts.
In this evolving situation, a player does not have to be a household name before the start of the games to be one by the last bell. A good performance, a well-timed shout-out, or an organized fan push can quickly turn unknown players into some of the tournament’s most visible figures online.
