Football fever grips Hong Kong as Cristiano Ronaldo museum officially opens

Dozens waited in line for hours before the opening of the Hong Kong CR7 Life Museum, an exhibition celebrating football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s life, featuring prized items such as one of his five Ballon d’Or awards.

Organisers announced on Monday that Ronaldo would be visiting Hong Kong “very soon” for the newly opened museum, but they remained tight-lipped about a specific date.

About 50 people queued up at the K11 Musea sixth-floor venue at 11.30am, 90 minutes before the doors opened at 1pm.

Among the crowd was Johan Bihis, a tourist from the Philippines, who said that she had specifically travelled to Hong Kong for the museum. She began queuing at 9.30am, unaware that the venue would not open to the public until 1pm on its first day, rather than the usual 10am opening time for subsequent days.

“I booked a flight as soon as I saw on social media the museum was coming to Hong Kong,” said Bihis, who described herself as a level “nine” fan of Ronaldo’s “on a scale of one to 10”.