{"id":36608,"date":"2026-06-19T01:27:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/world-cup-new-zealand-soccer-star-tim-paine-signs-with-paraguay-side-olimpia\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T01:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T01:27:26","slug":"world-cup-new-zealand-soccer-star-tim-paine-signs-with-paraguay-side-olimpia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/world-cup-new-zealand-soccer-star-tim-paine-signs-with-paraguay-side-olimpia\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup: New Zealand soccer star Tim Paine signs with Paraguay side Olimpia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) \u2014 New Zealand defender Tim Paine has achieved viral fame after being chosen by soccer influencers before a match. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">world cup<\/span>announced that he will play for Club Olimpia in Paraguay.<\/p>\n<p>Payne&#8217;s number of followers on Instagram jumped from 4,700 to 5.8 million following the incident. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Influencer El Scalso,<\/span> His real name is Valen Scarsini, and he was named as the World Cup player with the least number of followers on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Due to his sudden rise to fame, clubs from Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Mexico expressed interest in signing Payne. he confirmed on Friday <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Previous AP coverage<\/span> He has signed a one-year contract with Olympia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This was not an easy decision,&#8221; Payne said. &#8220;I played 149 games for seven years with Wellington Phoenix (in the A-League).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you to my fans, teammates and everyone who has supported me throughout my career, in good times and bad. Without you, I wouldn&#8217;t be here representing my country at the World Cup, the pinnacle of sport.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He is looking forward to competing with his new club.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always pushed myself to be the best soccer player I can be,&#8221; Payne said. \u201cTo test myself in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, the pinnacle of South American football, is one of the greatest opportunities I could have ever hoped for as a professional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Olimpia recently won their 48th title in the Copa de Primera Apertura in Paraguay.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Club Olimpia is one of the biggest clubs in South America, with a great history, passionate supporters and ambition worthy of its status,&#8221; said Payne. \u201cI look forward to rising to that challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP World Cup: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/FIFA-World-Cup<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-new-zealand-tim-payne-ae77cb97e8dd5286fe34f7e6e597df1f\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) \u2014 New Zealand defender Tim Paine has achieved viral fame after being chosen by soccer influencers before a match. world cupannounced that he will play for Club Olimpia in Paraguay. Payne&#8217;s number of followers on Instagram jumped from 4,700 to 5.8 million following the incident. Influencer El Scalso, His real name<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Cup: New Zealand soccer star Tim Paine signs with Paraguay side Olimpia - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/world-cup-new-zealand-soccer-star-tim-paine-signs-with-paraguay-side-olimpia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup: New Zealand soccer star Tim Paine signs with Paraguay side Olimpia - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) \u2014 New Zealand defender Tim Paine has achieved viral fame after being chosen by soccer influencers before a match. world cupannounced that he will play for Club Olimpia in Paraguay. 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