Governing bodies, venues and brands have turned to influencers to pump up interest in the CWC – with more to come in 2026
In the run-up to the Club World Cup, Gianni Infantino walked the fine line of aggressively promoting the expanded tournament, while not exactly sitting down for lengthy media interviews. Public appearances showing off a glitzy CWC trophy, or photo-ops in the White House? Sure.
But when it came to one of the few extended conversations, the FIFA President made a curious choice: iShowSpeed. Seriously.
It was a wonderfully choreographed event, Infantino “surprising” the streamer, who has 36.5 million followers on Instagram and 41.2M subscribers on YouTube. “Speed” played along with the whole act, pretended to be shocked, and asked a few basic questions, in a skit-adjacent format, that basically served as an infomercial for the Club World Cup.
A cynic might call it avoidance of some real issues. In reality, it was smart business, Infantino realizing that much of the soccer culture in the United States exists online – and with a younger demographic. And as the Club World Cup rolls from the group stage into this weekend’s knockout round, influencers, streamers and social media personalities have been the fuel keeping the movement going.
“He had the FIFA Club World Cup trophy in the room where they're exploding fireworks and doing crazy sh*t, you know?” John Shin, who goes by GoodVibesJohn to his 98,000 Instagram followers, told GOAL. “But that's basically the entertainment industry, especially for the younger generation. And I think what FIFA and Infantino, particularly, what he's trying to do, is he's tapping into that sort of space.”
Getty ImagesFighting tradition
This has probably been coming for a while. There are constant debates around America’s ability to expand its soccer culture, and how it might push for authenticity. More seasoned voices might always exist, but for a new generation – the very demographic FIFA is openly trying to target – interactions with the game occur primarily through their devices.
And accordingly, influencers have responded. Some work directly with FIFA. Others partner with a wide range of brands. There are plenty, too, who are leveraging their own content to simultaneously promote the tournament and increase their follower base. But whatever the method, it has become a mutually beneficial transaction in which more eyes are on some form of the sport, and individual brands grow.
“It’s basically been constantly promoting the Club World Cup. And it’s been good,” Kevin Sika-Nartey, known to his 142,000 Instagram followers as KevinFooty, said.
AdvertisementFinding an angle
For most, curating a decent following isn’t the hard part. You just need an angle. TheoKicksBalls, a streamer based in Philadelphia, has developed his profile by making a series of videos claiming that any given viewer “sucks at soccer.” He has 226,000 followers and racks up views in the millions.
Making money, though, is harder. It’s far from a simple system. The vast majority of content creators don’t work with brands directly. Instead, they are represented by a handful of agencies, sprinkled across the U.S. and the world.
A shoe or apparel brand, for example, will coordinate with an agency, hand them a budget for a creator, and then connect with individual personalities. A couple of thousand dollars is typically on offer – although it depends on agents and follower base. Traditionally, in the American soccer space, brand deals were difficult to come by.
But the Club World Cup has brought an influx of cash for creators.
“I’ll have brand deals with sponsors that are putting money into the Club World Cup that want individual videos or personalized reels that are more like advertising based,” he said.
Watch every FIFA Club World Cup game free on DAZNStream nowGetting the timing right
For Sika-Nartey, it started in September 2024. He says he was asked directly by FIFA to piece together an Instagram post hyping up the Club World Cup. He worked alongside another creator, Imluppe, to shoot a video in New York City’s Times Square. It’s 15 seconds, back to front.
Here’s Luppe, pointing to a screen showing Vitinha Maradona spinning around a defender. There’s Sika-Nartey, looking up at a billboard promising “the best 32 clubs in the world” coming to the States. Luppe juggles, Sika-Nartey flicks.
One commenter promises that the “CWC’s gonna be a movie” with a fire emoji. A series of other creators in the soccer space interact. At the end of it all, the video was posted as part of FIFA’s campaign.
The process was quick. The agency assigned the content to the duo quickly, and FIFA gave them two hours after their shoot to post. That meant creating the video, editing, uploading and making extra footage that didn’t make the cut far faster than usual.
“They're very smooth, but in terms of deliverables, they want content like right away,” Sika-Nartey said.
FIFA is selective, the creator says. Most have been gearing up for the tournament months in advance, noting it as an inflection point for American soccer – especially as a precursor to the 2026 World Cup in North America – and a chance to raise their own profile. Such is the case for Alfardy Ali – who has 47,000 Instagram followers.
“This stuff I posted about the Club World Cup is just me, saying it's more than just a tournament or a money grab, or just another tournament to tire players out,” Ali said. “Like, it's not even brands or companies reaching out. It's just me just trying to, like, I don't know, just talk about football.”
A year ago, Scott realized the same. It was, in fact, what drove him into social media in the first place.
“I started making content, like a little over a year ago now,” he said, “and my whole thing was it's kind of now or never, because of these huge events in the U.S. coming up: the Club World Cup, as well as, like, the Gold Cup and even Leagues Cup, just like major tournaments.”
The same goes for those with relatively small followings. Lilibeth Rendon works for Area Sports Network, has a job in real estate in Manhattan, but also has an Instagram account with 9,000 followers. She knows that this could be important as she continues to grow.
“There's a lot of brands in America that like European soccer,” she said. “So it's like, you get to see your favorite teams – like, I'm a prime example of that – in an official competition. And it's finally not a friendly.”
John ShinPutting in the hours
There are more demanding jobs in the world, certainly. But what perhaps isn’t considered in the whole process is the number of hours that most creators put in. It might seem trite from the outside to have sympathy for people who get to watch soccer for a living – and kick a ball around on social media to make a few thousand dollars.
There’s an element of truth to that. But the CWC has also required travel, energy and editing work to a unique degree.
"It’s been crazy, bro, this past month. It's just like constant. I fall asleep and I wake up and I'm like, ‘Bro, I'm so tired.’ I haven't really rested. We were in Orlando for the weekend, and when we came back, I was so jetlagged. And then I had to edit a [commercial] video and submit to them. I fell asleep with the phone in my hand while I was editing,” Sika-Nartey said, FaceTiming goal after just waking up. “It was crazy, bro.”
It’s more challenging for those who have full-time jobs. Shin works from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on most days. He is a chemical engineer. He is an elder statesman in the New York City creation space, having made social media content – mostly around Manchester United – for 11 years. He is 33, and has been attacking the tournament while also dealing with, well, life.
“I'm worried that, like, one day, just like, at the flick of the switch, I'm just gonna just sleep for like, 20 hours or something,” Shin joked.
Others have travelled long distances. Scott has spent hours in the car going from Pennsylvania to New York and back, hitting as many games as possible to create content. Sometimes, there isn’t even money behind it. But for him, exposure is key to keeping his hundreds of thousands of followers happy.
“This is my first major tournament, but everything I've experienced so far is like very last minute, like ‘Hey we have these tickets, do you wanna come?’” Scott said.
Sometimes, that means multiple trips in a week. Some are paid, some aren’t. Rendon is following Real Madrid up and down the East Coast on her own dime – all in the name of capturing content with Los Blancos.