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Previously unknown players have gained millions of social media followers thanks to attention of tournamentBreakout talent emerges at every World Cup, but in 2026 these players’ actions are not confined to the pitch. Social media has become football’s parallel tournament, an arena where one viral clip can reshape an entire career. Here are some standout risers from the tournament so far.The Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha has become a global sensation after starring in his country’s stunning goalless draw with Spain on Monday. Before the match, reports suggested the 40-year-old had roughly 20,000 followers on social media – that figure now stands at 7.2 million and rising. It’s fair to say Vozinha could end up being one of the faces of the tournament.Payne arrived at the World Cup with a mere 4,715 followers on Instagram. After being picked out by the Argentinian influencer Valen Scarsini in a challenge to find the “least-known player” at the tournament based on social media metrics, the New Zealand defender saw that figure rise to an enormous 5.8 million. Caught by surprise at his sudden rise in social media popularity, Payne posted videos thanking Scarsini for his support. The pair have also subsequently met in the flesh.A couple of days before the World Cup started, the Australia defender saw his Instagram following jump from 3,000 to over 100,000 as part of an internet campaign instigated by the football content creator RubikayTV intended to make the 25-year-old the “the Cristiano Ronaldo of the World Cup” in response to Scarsini’s support for Payne. Trewin is now one of the most well-known players in the Socceroos squad despite not featuring in their 2-0 victory over Turkey on Sunday.A shoutout from the influencer FiagoBall catapulted Curaçao’s back-up goalkeeper from 1,606 to 45.1k followers on Instagram, which is some level of online support for a player who sat on the bench all season for VVV-Venlo in the second tier in the Netherlands and may not feature at all at this World Cup.The Morocco defender is not a viral star having gained a mere 2,000 followers since the start of the World Cup, but he very much remains one to watch after starring for Genk in the Belgian Pro League this season, registering eight goals and four assists in 34 appearances and subsequently being named the best player of African descent in Belgium’s top flight. What he needs now for his profile to truly soar is to play for his country at these finals – he was an unused substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brazil – and/or for a influencer to shoot him to social media prominence.

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Dublin-born defender’s display against Spain drew comparisons with Paul McGrath’s against Italy in 1994 but he says there is still room to improveRucksack on his back, Roberto “Pico” Lopes was standing on the corner of the narrow walkway way below the stands at the Atlanta stadium on Monday afternoon when the last of Spain’s players tried to make their way home. More than an hour after the final whistle had gone and they still couldn’t get past him, someone quipped. The centre-back from Crumlin reckoned he was “rusty” too here, yet he was at the heart of the greatest moment in Cape Verde’s history, one his coach claimed went far beyond football, and the kind of story only the World Cup can write.It had taken a little while and a word or two to realise it. In the final minute when Spain had their 11th and last corner, Lopes had looked at the clock and seen that it was close. He had heard the final whistle go, heard the roar as it was confirmed that Cape Verde had held on, undefeated on their tournament debut. He had seen the tears and celebration, family and friends in the stands, As he went down the tunnel he encountered Ray Houghton, scorer of the goal in New York when the Republic of Ireland defeated Italy 32 years ago, and embraced him. It was, he said, “lovely”, but what all this meant hadn’t entirely sunk in yet.“You’re still in that moment: ‘A point, is it good?’ That’s just the way I am after games: I pick over the bones,” Lopes said. “[Ray] put it into perspective: ‘It’s a point at the World Cup against Spain’. Sometimes you have to allow yourself to enjoy it. Yeah, we can play better – we will probably have opportunities to show that in the next two games – but it’s a clean sheet against one of the best teams in the world.”That helped; then came the FaceTime call with his Shamrock Rovers teammates, which meant Lopes took a while to appear in the mixed zone to speak to the media, for which he apologised. He arrived wearing a pin badge pinned to his chest of the Irish and Cape Verde flags crossed – a gift from the country’s ambassador in Lisbon. “I think in the dressing room it hit me just what we have achieved here,” he said, and what they had achieved is astonishing. A point, is it good? It is unbelievable.In their first ever game at the World Cup, the Atlantic archipelago with a population of 600,000 had held the European champions and tournament favourites ranked 65 places higher than them. Never had a gap this big ended in anything other than defeat. Everything about this was extraordinary. Cape Verde’s goalkeeper, Vozinha, is 40 and yet made seven saves, crying afterwards because his mother couldn’t afford the visa bond to come. Their all-time top scorer, Ryan Mendes, making his 99th appearance, is playing in the second division in Turkey. The starting striker, Dailon Livramento, hasn’t scored a club goal in almost two years. And the midfielder who replaced Laros Duarte in the second half is his brother Deroy.Few though have captured the imagination quite like Lopes, a one-time mortgage adviser who didn’t turn pro until he was 24 and didn’t get an international call until he was 28. Lopes was born and raised in Dublin. His dad, Carlos, was a cruise ship chef from Cape Verde whose boat docked in the city, where he met Judy, Lopes’s mother. His 98-year-old grandad still works the land in São Nicolau, one of the 10 islands. That made him eligible for an international call up, which didn’t mean he ever imagined it. When it came, it was via LinkedIn and at the second attempt – the first time, Lopes had assumed it was spam. He is the first League of Ireland player to reach the World Cup at all, let alone start it like this.It started with history made, and the kind of performance that had some likening him to Paul McGrath at Giants Stadium. “I don’t think it was that good,” Lopes insisted. “Look, I’m probably a bit rusty: that’s my first 90 minutes since April, so I was happy to get it under my belt.“At half-time we just said, ‘Good first half,’ because we came in at nil-all but there was still a big job to be done. It’s never over until it’s over: if you start putting your feet up at 90 minutes, that’s where things can change. The last corner they had, I glanced up at the stopwatch. I think there was 30 seconds left and I was just screaming: ‘One more, come on, one more’ and that would be it. And I was just hoping that we’d get a head on it or that Vozinha would come and claim it like he has. I knew if we didn’t concede then, that could be it.”“We probably wanted to be a bit better on the ball but sometimes you have to take that and you have to suffer and we got rewards in the end,” Lopes continued. “It’s amazing, to get a point and a clean sheet in our first game at a World Cup and against a team like Spain; it’s something we should be proud of and enjoy. It’s history for us.” Vindication, too. If there have been complaints about the expanded format, this said something about the competitive credentials of countries too easily dismissed as unworthy. Cape Verde’s starting XI had players from eight different leagues – those of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France are not among them. Now here they were on the biggest stage and proving they are worthy, the competition a better place for their presence.“I think this has given an opportunity for every nation to have a crack at the World Cup,” Lopes said. “And things don’t change: teams are [still] here on merit. Just because there are 48 teams here, you still have to qualify. You look at some of the great names that aren’t here, it just goes to show you that it is still a hard path. It is still notoriously difficult to qualify from Africa. If it’s 32 teams or 48 teams or 64 you have to get here on merit, you have to earn it.“I’m immensely proud: we have some great players in our league and to represent the League of Ireland is huge for me. I have played my whole career there. I started out part-time, then I became full-time. I was chatting to the lads from Shamrock Rovers: a lot of them went out to watch the game and to see the people you lock heads with every day, that really push you ever day and support you, means the most. They’re so happy, they’re so happy, they’re so proud. It feels a bit weird because normally they give me a bit of stick … I am sure that will come as well.”“It is hard to sum up in words, but for me it is just a story of never giving up,” Lopes said as his teammates arrived, Duarte carrying a giant speaker on wheels, music blasting out. “My first international game was at 28, I will be 34 in two days and I will probably feel every bit of that now after today, and I have played in my first World Cup. Dream, believe, work hard, and anything you love can happen.”

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Keeper named player of the match against Euro winners‘I have worked my whole life for this moment,’ he saysVozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who was named player of the match after making seven saves in his side’s 0-0 draw against Spain, was in tears at full time. The mother of Cape Verde’s World Cup hero was not there to see history made because she could not afford the visa to the US.The goalkeeper described the game as the moment he had been working towards his “entire life” and said he wished he could have shared the moment with his late grandparents and his mother.In January the US government added Cape Verde to the list of countries whose citizens have to post a returnable bond of up to $15,000 (£11,200) before travelling to the US, on top of the visa fee. As a result, Vozinha’s mother was unable to complete her application. Vozinha has been Cape Verde’s No 1 for 13 years.“I cried because I grew up with my grandparents and unfortunately they were not here; they died a few years ago,” he said. “They were everything for me, for my life. I also cried because my mum didn’t manage to be here because of the visa. Because of the money we had to pay for the visa, we didn’t manage to [get it done] on time. I would like her to be here, but I’m also very happy.“I have worked my whole life for this moment. I’m 40 years old. I started playing football professionally when I was 25, in 2012. I thought about leaving but I continued because of this dream. This is for everyone. I was named man of the match but this is for all of my teammates because without them nothing would be possible. I will continue to work for Cape Verde and for the people.Spain, unsurprisingly, had the majority of possession but struggled to break down a well organised Cape Verde defence. Ferran Torres hit the bar in the European champions’ best chance. Everything else that was on target Vozinha stopped.“Our best weapon is our unity. The way we treat our family is our best strength. Everyone thought we came here just to enjoy the World Cup, but we know we have a team that deserves respect. It’s our first time, but we are here to compete and to fight for our country. We will play all the games with our strategy and our coach’s tactics. We will try to do better than today’s game. I hope we can win some games and, who knows, maybe go through to the next round. I am very happy and proud of all our players.”The Cape Verde head coach, Bubista, said: “Vozinha is overwhelmed by the emotion. He has made a huge effort to be here, and those were tears of resilience. I don’t like to talk about individuals, but he played so well. The team was calm and that helped to keep him calm.“This means everything for the country. We’ve always said that we want the whole world to see how our team plays. We showed courage, playing in a way that is a metaphor for our country: with resilience and overcoming obstacles.”

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Wow, just wow. At 1.57pm, Atlanta time, 3,291 miles from home, the final whistle went on Cape Verde’s first World Cup game, and they had only gone and done it and what they had done was madness – they had only gone and held the favourites. Bubista had said that he wanted the world to see who and what they are and, boy, did they see. Cape Verde’s coach had insisted that getting here was was more than football – it was music, it was culture, it was everything. So what was this? This was wonderful. What a moment and what a noise greeted the moment when the impossible had become real.An Atlantic archipelago of 600,000 people. A Shamrock Rovers centre-back from Crumlin, Dublin, who had been found on LinkedIn. A goalkeeper from Portugal’s second division, another Josimar leaving his mark on the history of this competition and a million minds, to be talked about for generations. All of them. They had come to the US, faced Spain, and resisted them, their bodies on the line and their hearts on their sleeves. Even the introduction of Lamine Yamal, the teenage icon cast as Spain’s saviour couldn’t defeat them.Cape Verde got a point from Atlanta but they got a whole, whole lot more. They might have literally got more. As this game entered the final, dramatic, tense minutes with the score at 0-0, it was they, not Spain, who actually got the best chances. Amazingly on 90 minutes Diney Borges leapt inside the Spain area, rising to meet a header and his moment of immortality only for Unai Simón to save. Three minutes later Ryan Mendes had his opportunity too. Dani Olmo had to block from Kevin Pina too, an incredible story on the edge of getting even more absurd. But this will live for ever.And if those were huge moments, so too was the astonishing block from Pico Lopes, diving in on 88 minutes to deny Olmo. Lopes, born in Dublin, the man whose coach contacted him on LinkedIn and who had ignored the first message – it was in a language he doesn’t understand and he assumed it was spam – has made history. Behind Lopes, 40-year-old Josimar “Vozinha” Dias had too. They all had; what heroes they have become. A starting XI that plays in eight different leagues, none of them the elite, an entire 26, had held off Spain. Nothing does stories like football, like the World Cup.Spain had 24 shots and couldn’t find a way through, but this wasn’t fluke, far from it. Bubista’s players had worked for it, deserved it from the very start when that countdown to kick-off came and, a minute and six seconds later than scheduled, Dailon Livramento got Cape Verde’s first-ever touch at a World Cup.And so it began, an act of rebellion and resistance. Bubista has said his team would have the courage to attack but also that they would have to defend well and that was the priority here, naturally enough. Spain took possession but didn’t really find a way to take advantage. Sitting on the bench behind Luis de la Fuente were Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, the men – well, boy in the latter’s case – who had made them so different at the Euros. Both are on their way back from injury and without them it is not just that the selección lack exceptional players, it is that their identity shifts.For Spain, there wasn’t much happening in truth, at least not to begin with. It took 14 minutes for Pedri to have their first shot, then Pau Cubarsí struck wide, and that was pretty much that. When the first quarter ended with fans whistling the time-out-disguised-as-a-cooling-break in an air-conditioned stadium that has a roof, they had not troubled Cape Verde. As the players gathered in a circle around De la Fuente, the coach’s message was clear, hand thrusting in a cutting motion.When they came back for the second quarter, it was Ryan Mendes who had the first notable moment, lifting the ball over Gavi and seeing his shot blocked by Marc Cucurella. There was also a moment when Livramento shot from halfway. And Jovane Cabral curled wide. But Spain did improve and as the half came towards a close the chances appeared. Which was when Vozinha did, too. The first of a series of superb saves came from Mikel Oyarzabal’s header after Ferran Torres hit the bar.That had begun, like much of what Spain did, from Cucurella getting in behind. And when he did so again soon after, he pulled back for Torres to strike a first-time shot. Vozinha saved that too, and again when Aymeric Laporte headed towards the far post just before the break. Spain came back out with the appearance of more intent, more aggression. Pedri was back at the heart of it. The shot count rose, at the feet of Fabián Ruiz especially. Yet it still wasn’t quite happening, and time was getting on.And on, and on. And, to the surprise of everyone here, while Spain’s subs warmed up, there were still no changes. They reached the end of the third quarter before Lamine Yamal appeared, the second water break bringing instructions and the introduction of the teenager. Mikel Merino came with him. Lamine Yamal’s introduction changed everything, the whole mood, the noise. Well, almost everything. It didn’t change history, not this time. Cape Verde did that and it was music.

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There have never been more brilliant footballers in the world than there are now – one reason it’s so hard to pick a winner of this competition. Knockout ties often come down to which individual delivers – or fails to deliver – at the crucial moment and, with so many countries boasting numerous individuals able to turn a game and humans being inherently unreliable, we can’t know which of them will be grooved – or heartbreakingly, hilariously inept – when the time comes.But it remains the case that Spain, though not obvious champions, are the hardest team to beat. Things have changed since they won three consecutive competitions 2008-12 – you can’t dominate possession to the same absurd extent once you no longer have Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta – club’s football’s greatest midfield – plus Xabi Alonso, plus another midfielder or two in lieu of strikers.Yet Rodri and Pedri are pretty handy replacements and, though the control they bring isn’t the same, it’s been replaced with the thrust their champion sides lacked. Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams – both expected to be absent today, a precautionary move as they recover from injury – give them a threat in behind and on the outside, while Mikel Oyarzabal, likely to play in between them, is in sensational form at both club and international level.All of which makes this a tricky – but inspiring – assignment for Cape Verde, making their tournament debut. They qualified top of their group, finishing above a Cameroon side featuring Bryan Mbeumo and Carlos Baleba among others, with only one player – Villarreal defender Logan Costa – playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues. This tells us they’re a settled, organised side and, while they’re better at the back than up front, they’ll be a threat on the counter. As Dailon Livramento, their star attacker said, “We got ourselves into the World Cup, now it’s time to have fun together.”That attitude makes them a danger even if a comfortable Spain win remains the likeliest outcome here. When, in years to come, we look back on this competition, one of its eternal, affirming memories will be Curaçao’s goal against Germany and Cape Verde are more than capable of delivering us another moment of emotional intensity the like of which only World Cup football can. And really, that’s why we’re here: we can worry about who wins the thing later.Kick-off: 3pm local, 5pm BST, 12p EDT, 2am AEST.