A goalkeeper most of the world had never heard of walked off the pitch in Atlanta with about 50,000 Instagram followers. By the next morning he had close to 10 million. Within days he passed Patrick Mahomes, Victor Wembanyama and Travis Kelce and closed in on Tom Brady. He now has 15.5 million followers and counting.

His name is Vozinha. He is 40 years old, he plays soccer for Cape Verde, and his team held Spain, one of the favorites to win the World Cup, to a 0-0 draw in his country’s World Cup debut. Spain took 27 shots. Vozinha stopped seven of them from hitting the back of the net. Cape Verde, a nation of around half a million people, walked away with a point nobody expected them to get.

But there is a story beneath the football, and it is the one to study if you are building an audience online. Vozinha did something undeniable, in front of an audience FIFA expects to reach six billion people across the tournament. Someone gave that audience one clear thing to do. That sequence is how attention turns into a following for anyone, in any field.

Written by: Jodie Cook @Forbes

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