The influencer’s World Cup: Pitchside access and the battle for views in an often lonely world

Elizabeth Pehota is spinning around in a circle. Behind her is the Gillette Stadium pitch.

With her mobile phone, the 32-year-old former cheerleader is capturing content for social media.

Just before the end of Scotland’s World Cup opener against Haiti, Pehota, who has worked as a host and reporter for MLS side New England Revolution, runs around the stadium’s concourse filming her latest ‘World Cupdates’ instalment. The concept is simple: Every day during the World Cup, she will run and talk about some of the tournament’s biggest talking points.

“What I am trying to do with my series is merge my love for running and my love for soccer,” said Pehota, who has completed 17 marathons, including all seven world majors, and once held the Guinness world record for the fastest female marathon runner with multiple sclerosis, a condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.

Pehota, originally from Connecticut, has a background in sports journalism and is now creating content as a full-time job. On her Instagram running and lifestyle account, she has built a community of almost 50,000 followers and gained a new audience. One video running with a Scotland fan gathered 177,000 views and another, which showed Scotland fans simply partying, brought in 513,000 views.

The American is not alone in her pursuit of community, connection, views and followers at this World Cup.

The Athletic spoke to five content creators who are using the World Cup to bolster their brand and found their experiences to be wide-ranging as they navigate an ever-changing, competitive sphere. They have increased their followers, some have also felt pressure in having to constantly create, but all used the same word to describe why they were at the World Cup: opportunity.

At this tournament, football, fashion, food, fans and various cultures have collided and been played out on smartphones. We watched Scotland fans drink Boston dry, Norway fans brought their Viking Row to Times Square and captured the imagination, while Merlin the duck waddled around Mexico City in his Mexico jersey.

Ahead of the World Cup, Rollo Goldstaub, head of global sport at TikTok, predicted the tournament could be “the largest content moment across all categories, not just sports”, partly because of the expanded 48-team format, he said, and that it is being hosted in three countries and the excitement among fans.

TikTok are already seeing instant results. As of June 30, the hashtag “FIFAWorldCup” had been used 9.4million times; total posts using “WorldCup” as a hashtag increased almost 65 per cent and searches in the U.S. using the words World Cup had risen by 320 per cent.

But while some moments are predictably — and easily — going to strike a chord on social media, other viral moments are unexpected.

With the tournament looming, broadcaster Nimi Mehta, who had a screen test in Los Angeles with Fox Sports, didn’t have her dream role locked down. With 38 days to go, in a last-ditch attempt to work at the World Cup, she posted a video on social media telling people she was looking for work. 

“My goal is to become one of the top female sports broadcasters in the world, but that isn’t what it used to be anymore,” the 35-year-old Londoner, who has nearly 140,000 Instagram followers, told The Athletic. “There are almost more eyes on social media content than you would get on broadcast nowadays.”

Mehta’s video was viewed over one million times on Instagram and landed her a number of roles at the tournament, working as a presenter and content creator for FIFA, Adidas, UK publisher Mirror Sport and more.

“I was putting it off (posting the video) for a really long time,“ she added. ”I had the idea at 50 days to go and then at day 38 I was just, like, ‘post it’.

“In broadcast, nobody would admit that they failed or didn’t get chosen for a job, or did a screen test but didn’t get chosen. There was some vulnerability in that. I had to rip off the band-aid because I just wanted it so much and that was more important than anything else.

“I almost forgot that you can just have ownership of your own content and don’t necessarily need a massive broadcaster to do that. A 60-second video is all it took. That has led to opportunities that my normal career journey just couldn’t offer.”

Simone Scott started her career in broadcast journalism but pivoted 18 months ago. Setting up a studio at home, she began to post videos to TikTok and has now built a community of over 250,000 people on the platform. Her explainer videos centre on making sports more accessible to women.

While standing in line to get lunch at a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, an email popped up on Scott’s phone addressed from TikTok and FIFA. It told Scott, who will turn 38 this summer, that she had been selected for a programme which was giving 30 creators behind-the-scenes access to the World Cup. The aim was to “give fans unique, relatable perspectives,” the sport’s global governing body said, as it announced TikTok as its first “Preferred Platform”. FIFA’s TikTok account has amassed 437million views and over five million followers.

“I started reading it and I thought, ‘Wait, this is a big deal’. I had to sit down, fully read it, call my mom, read it to her to get that I’m understanding this properly,” Scott recalled.

“I was just completely overwhelmed because my bucket list is your major sporting events, and my goal was to try to get to a match at this World Cup. The idea of actually going to not just one but multiple games and getting this incredible one-of-a-kind access, it’s overwhelming, but in the best way.”

 

 

@simonescott33 The Group Stage is officially over. Now it’s survive and advance mode #fifaworldcup #fifatiktokcreator #worldcup #soccer #TikTokCampaign ♬ original sound – Simone Scott ⚽️🏈✨💅🏽

She has enjoyed pitchside access and one video from MetLife Stadium, explaining how the group stage ended, reached just under one million views on TikTok. Scott has also been creating a “Soccer 101” series.

Scott, who has previously worked as a traditional sports anchor, believed social media gave her and others career opportunities.

“This could blow up for so many different people and so many communities or professions. That’s really cool. And also with the players, this is how they can show their personality online. If I find a player that I think is funny, now all of a sudden I’m a fan. I want to watch their matches and cheer for their team or get their jersey.”

Footballers may not be shining a light on life behind the scenes the same way as, for example, many Olympians do but that is slowly changing.

Players and teams are starting to tap into the power of personality. Television presenter Josh Denzel was the host of the Lions’ Den show for England’s official social media channels during major tournaments for seven years. He said the show was former England manager Gareth Southgate’s idea to allow fans to connect with the players.

“The feedback we got is that it was a completely different viewpoint for the fans and they got an insight that you would have never ever had before,” Denzel, who starred on season four of the UK version of Love Island, said. “But that also comes from a demand from us as the consumer of this content. and football fans as a whole, of wanting to see as much as possible.”

At this World Cup, Norway and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is leading the way — one of his World Cup vlogs has over 1.7million views on YouTube and his subscriber count is over two million.

Two World Cup players in particular have felt the embrace of the internet.

When Argentine creator Valen Scarsini made a video about defender Tim Payne, whom he called the “least known” World Cup player, the New Zealander’s Instagram followers ballooned from 4,000 to six million. Thanks to Scarsini, Payne now has more followers than there are people in his native New Zealand.

 

An Argentinian influencer decided to focus on an unknown player at the World Cup and chose Tim Payne.

He rallied Latin America to back the Kiwi.🇳🇿

Tim Payne has soared from 5k followers, to that of 3x of Chris Wood’s following.

The power of Social Media… and Latin America! pic.twitter.com/YvUEJqbcpT

— Kiwis In Football (@KiwisInFootball) May 27, 2026

As for Cape Verde’s Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper was playing at his country’s first World Cup and his clean sheet against Spain on their debut game earned him hero status. In Brazil, every match is being streamed free-to-view on YouTube by CazéTV, which will also broadcast every Euro 2028 game. During one of their live streams fans were told to follow Cape Verde’s Vozinha. It was a call they answered. He now has 25.8 million followers on Instagram. 

Referee David Gerson, one of the creators selected by TikTok and FIFA, cannot quite match Vozinha’s follower count but has built a fanbase of over 380,000 fans on the platform.

At the age of 51, Gerson calls himself a “grand-influencer” and has been explaining key decisions throughout the tournament on his Refs Need Love Too account. His videos seek to humanise referees as he gives his take on specific decisions.

Gerson has relished the chance to get out to matches in his referee kit and film content on location. He has been filming pitchside at a number of games, and has done pieces to camera on the hottest topics, like whether or not hair is considered for offside following that controversial moment in Croatia’s loss to Portugal.

“Usually, I go down to my basement, I turn on my ring light, I take my phone, and I put it up. I sit down for the next hour. I work on editing it, and I post it. And that’s it,” he said. “It’s a completely solitary experience. And I think for a lot of creators it can be really, really lonely.”

Pehota said it can also be difficult to stay present with so much to do.

“I definitely struggle with the balance of it all,” she said. “Being at the World Cup, I want to watch and enjoy the game, but I’m also working the entire time and I’m trying to get out content in a timely manner.”

But football fans want to see as much as possible, on and off the pitch. With that comes more content, more influencers and more pressure.

This is the World Cup as we have never seen it before. And over the next four years, the social media takeover will likely continue to grow.