‘Bring even more people into the conversation’ - The TikTok World Cup: How creators are changing the way North America watches soccer

FIFA’s Creator Correspondent program has given 30 TikTok personalities remarkable access at the World Cup - and offered a glimpse of how social media is reshaping soccer coverage in North America.

Rachel DeMita was warned she might be standing a little too close to goal. An hour before Portugal’s World Cup group-stage match against DR Congo, Cristiano Ronaldo was drilling free kicks toward the net, forcing the goalkeeper into save after save. DeMita stood just beyond the right post, phone in hand, capturing every strike - until one of the goalkeepers asked her to move. One miss could have sent the ball straight at her.

That proximity to the action sums up her role. DeMita, better known on TikTok as @rademita , is one of 30 creators selected as FIFA World Cup 2026 Creator Correspondents. Their access reflects a different kind of tournament: clipped, clickable and designed for the second screen, with creators sometimes getting closer to the players and pitch than traditional media. This is, in many ways, the social-media World Cup. DeMita and 29 others are here as proof.

“What's exciting is that football isn't just watched on TikTok; it's participated in,” Rollo Goldstaub, Global Head of Sport at TikTok, said in an email. “Fans celebrate goals, debate lineups, share reactions, teach skills, relive iconic moments and create their own traditions around the tournament. That creates a virtuous cycle where the passion of the community helps bring even more people into the conversation.”

'I've been earning more respect lately'

DeMita did not get hit with a free-kick, in the end. She moved a few feet away, and instead racked up 300,000 views (and counting) on a video of Ronaldo pinging shots at the goalie.

Others have had similar success. She, Nguyen, Gerson and 27 more have all seen their channels grow this summer. They are not being paid by FIFA on a per-video basis. This is not a massive money-making venture.

Instead, they are being handed a novel sort of responsibility that was sort of always coming anyway. A social media-ified World Cup was always going to have its detractors. And the traditionalists might not be wholly won over. But the power of the platform, when leveraged, is clear to see. Perhaps this is simply just the new frontier of football content.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

“I’m an OG in this space. I've been kind of like owning the internet for the past 10 years or so,” DeMita said. “And I feel like I’ve been earning more respect lately.”