Devoted China Cristiano Ronaldo football fan takes 13,000km bicycle ride to meet idol
Star-struck 24-year-old admits his head was ‘completely blank’ when he met football superstar for just one minute
A young man in China cycled for seven months from China to Saudi Arabia to meet his hero, football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 24-year-old man, surnamed Gong, from eastern China’s Anhui province, began his journey from his home on March 18.
He went north to Beijing before going all the way to the west, then entered Kazakhstan from Xinjiang, and passed by another six countries including Georgia, Iran, and Qatar, before arriving at Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh, where his favourite football player is based.
On October 20, Gong met Ronaldo in front of the Al Nassr Football Club, fulfilling a dream he had since he was a child.
Ronaldo, 39, widely known as “C Luo” on the mainland, is an all-time leading goal scorer with more than 900 goals in official matches.
He is also the long-time record holder for the most followers on Instagram, with 640 million.
