The World Cup of Influencers

With the World Cup just around the corner, it’s set to be a beaming reflection of the current digital era.

Audience attention is fixated on social media. Nose down in screens, scrolling through a symphony of opinions, liking the ones that align with their own. And being world’s most anticipated sporting tournament, this leaves a window of opportunity for brands to capitalise on the growing interest in what goes on off the pitch, behind the scenes, away on screens. 

How? The creator ecosystem.

The creator economy is currently worth $191.55bn, and is expected to rise to a net worth of $470bn by 2027 according to Goldman Sachs; influencers will be the stars off the pitch, and brands will be reaping the rewards.

“Influencers and creators will be central to how the World Cup is experienced, particularly for younger and more globally dispersed audiences,” says Will Butterworth, strategy director at Edelman. “What’s different heading into World Cup 2026 is the scale and sophistication of that role."

The world of online attention

Audience attention has become fragmented more than ever. Not only are attention spans lacking, but they’re becoming increasingly split between different consumable content mediums. 

Yes, football fans want to watch the game, but they also want to watch a live stream of their favourite creator reacting to a red card and scroll through TikTok debates about team line-ups. 

“Influencers and creators are no longer just amplification channels; they are cultural interpreters, shaping how moments are framed, shared and understood in real time,” continues Butterworth. 

Nielsen’s Global Sports Report 2025 finds that it’s not just younger generations seeking new methods to engage with sport; fans over 50 who use streaming to watch sports grew 21 per cent in two years, indicating that streaming media is growing engagement and opening the door for new formats to find new fans. 

Sky Sports led the charge across the recent Premier League season – going as far as producing its ‘In The Box’ series. Four Arsenal and four Tottenham fans – including Michael McIntyre, Gary Lineker, Chris MD, Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens, and Grime Gran – were locked in a box during the North London Derby, only to have the final score revealed to them after the 90 minutes were up.

The concept of content that revolves around missing the game entirely creates a whole new debate around attention; in this case, the reactions to die-hard fans is just as valuable as watching the game. 

While traditional broadcasters still own the live rights, creators are increasingly owning the reaction and the debate, according to Daniel Wood, SVP of sports and entertainment at WPP Media. 

“In the UK brands are no longer just thinking about how to plug into TV coverage – large audiences are now coming from visual podcasts like ‘The Rest Is Football’ [moving onto Netflix for the tournament], ‘The Overlap’, or creator collectives like the Sidemen, who will likely dominate Gen Z engagement on YouTube with on-the-ground content in the US,” he continues. 

Fan creators documenting their experiences, he believes, is the scale of the long tail. 

“Initiatives like TikTok’s World Cup Creator Correspondents programme, where selected creators are given behind-the-scenes access, show how platforms are actively positioning fans as part of the official broadcast ecosystem. In that sense, fans are increasingly becoming broadcasters in their own right.”

This extends to micro and nano influencers too, who will look to use the appeal of their own particular niches to connect with audiences. 

“You might say that this World Cup will be one of the last remaining monocultures,” explains Jim Stump, group creative director at T&P. “The fact social media has broken linear broadcasting as the dominant sports viewing method – everything’s so much more fragmented than it’s ever been.” 

Stump believes much of this content will surround travel and lifestyle “woven into football content” as creators travel between host cities across Mexico, Canada and the United States. More than ever, the concept of virality will be more evident with “the speed of editing, clipping culture, and better generative AI tools” meaning we’ll see memes go viral before half time and pass their peak by the final whistle. 

Winning through culture, not football

Unilever-owed Rexona is a brand tapping into the creator economy to engage with its audience, which comes as no surprise given the company’s commitment to spending half of its investment into social and influencer. 

It’s a brand that prides itself in fan experience, synonymous with its long-standing ‘Won’t Let You Down’ tagline. 

“We’ll be working across the full spectrum – from nano creators through to ambassadors – on how they bring value,” explains Em Heath, global brand director at Rexona. “Our ambassadors, for example, help create local connection and emotion, and they also help drive awareness of ticketing opportunities and get people excited about the possibility of being at the World Cup.”

Alongside, from June 13 to 16, the brand is hosting ‘Rexona’s New York Sweat Club’ - a pop-up creator event that will include an LED pitch to play five-a-side, spaces for creators to make content, record podcasts, do interviews, lounge around, and even get their nails done.

From a global point of view, Rexona is inviting and hosting creators at such events, but is also tapping into local markets through creators’ own content: “We’ll also be briefing creators to produce content themselves. We don’t always need to meet them in person - there are many ways to work with them. Some relationships will be in person, others more remote.”

Speaking previously to Creative Salon, Heath noted the large scale required for creators at global sporting events. “When Coca-Cola went to the Olympics last year, they sent something like 10,000 creators, and honestly, that’s what you’ve got to do.” 

And in the time since, the scale has grown: “Bigger than what we saw at the Olympics because this is the World Cup and it lasts nearly six weeks, with 104 matches and 48 teams,” she continues. “We need to match that scale. The Olympics is massive in its own right, with over 200 nations, but the Men’s World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world.”

Unilever shows further proof of this through its new 24/7 social media hub, ‘The Locker Room’, designed to deliver real time, up-to-date content across a range of platforms - using social-first activity to keep the match moments alive off the pitch.  

The hub will feature a collaboration between its Personal Care brands - Rexona/Degree, Dove, Dove Men+Care, Axe/Lynx - alongside a "dedicated team of creator and community experts at Unilever” to assist with live coverage. 

Diageo is another brand looking to lean towards creators for some of its World Cup content. For Rick Pineda, VP of global sports partnerships at Diageo, the drinks category is one that has always utilised influencers because of its very nature. 

Across its drinks portfolio for the tournament, which consists of Don Julio, Casamigos, Buchanan’s, Johnnie Walker, and Smirnoff, the brand isn’t just tapping into social media influencers. 

“At the top end, we launched our 1942 limited-edition World Cup bottle with Thierry Henry and Roberto Carlos - those are mega influencers,” he says. “We also have strong relationships with influencers across the full spectrum, and we’ll be leveraging that. Whether it’s bringing them to matches, having them host events or viewing parties with our products and their communities, that will be a core part of our strategy.”

A key piece of influencer marketing from the brand saw it team up with Grammy award-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Rauw Alejandro for its Buchanan’s brand. The collaboration not only includes a series of social media content between the pair, but an appearance of the scotch brand in Alejandro’s latest music video released for the tournament. 

Losing sight of the athlete

The brand of being an athlete in 2026 means being part influencer. The rise in athletes taking on roles of brand ambassadors, using their own social media channels to give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at a day in their life – and utilising this is certainly effective for brands. 

However, it leaves two questions: ‘Are athletes influencers?’; and, better yet, ‘Should athletes be prioritised over creators?’

“The star power of an athlete will always offer a level of borrowed fame and saliency that’s difficult to replicate, particularly around a World Cup, where players sit at the centre of global attention,” says Butterworth. “However, influencers and creators are building highly engaged, often niche audiences that value authenticity and relatability over pure star power. Their influence operates differently, less about reach in a single moment, more about sustained cultural relevance.”

Comparing the two, he believes, “misses the point”. “The most effective campaigns increasingly combine both: athletes provide the cultural gravity and credibility, while creators extend the story into fan communities in ways that feel more personal and participatory.”

Stump adds that athletes who have cultivated their own authentic brand and align with the right brands will see success in their cause, citing England forward Marcus Rashford influencing the UK government to reverse a policy to provide free school meals.

Wood points out that many players now have individual platforms that “far exceed the teams or leagues they play in”, with Cristiano Ronaldo having 600m+ Instagram followers compared to the World Cup’s own 55m. 

It all comes down to trust - something that athletes are earning in growing numbers.

The question of prioritisation is a “tricky one”, according to Heath; “The World Cup belongs to everyone. Yes, it doesn’t exist without 11 players on each side on the pitch, but the fans are what make it what it is - and content creators are part of that fan community. So I think there’s a role for both.” 

Not every brand needs to work with an athlete if it doesn’t make sense, she adds, citing Rexona’s sister brand Dove as an example: “If they’re activating around the Men’s World Cup, it may not make sense for them to partner with male athletes in that setting. They might instead focus on amplifying female voices around the tournament."

She continues: “There’s no shortage of athletes working with brands - many have double-digit partnerships already. The challenge is making sure each brand brings something unique to those partnerships.

"For example, if I’m working with someone like Cole Palmer, it has to look completely different from how Nike or Burberry or Pringles might work with him. It has to feel distinctive and authentic.”

A role for AI creators

While an unavoidable topic, perhaps one most aren’t considering for the upcoming tournament; the players are all real, we’re safe from robots.

Incorrect. 

Edelman’s 2024 Trust Barometer revealed 74 per cent of people trust “people like me” over traditional institutions, finding room for creators; and while AI continues to shape the modern digital landscape, AI creators may well be used to create more trusting partnerships. 

There’s an argument that AI creators are getting harder to spot, and therefore aren’t an issue, however, their appearances were clear during last season in the Premier League, with some even posting dancing videos in the players’ dressing rooms.

Wood outlines that AI-generated creators like Scarlett Parker, who gained traction for supposedly being sat next to Thierry Henry at the Emirates, often have content that “feels obviously synthetic”. 

“When feeds are already full of authentic, fan-driven celebration, especially around big moments like title wins, AI content can feel disconnected, inauthentic and driven by clickbait rather than genuine fandom and could lead to brand trust erosion.

“As a sports fan, I’d much prefer to see AI creators used sparingly if at all,” he concludes. “Sport is fundamentally about the human experience: passion, joy, heartbreak and genuine emotion. With so many real people already bringing that to life in incredible ways, it’s hard to see why that needs to be recreated artificially. For me, it feels like an unnecessary step.” 

The next six weeks are bound to bring highs and lows on and off the pitch. But as the players rule for 90 minutes, influencers and creators will look to win the game of attention.