Ziad, the young refugee boy who was being carried by his father when a Hungarian camerawoman intentionally tripped them, got to walk onto the field Saturday with soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
The tripping incident, captured on video near the Hungarian village of Roszke, sparked worldwide outrage when the journalist tripped Ziad's father with the young boy in his arms.
Lage in #Roeszke #Hungary weiter schlimm - Polizei überfordert - Flüchtlinge durchbrechen Polizeikette - Verletzte!
The journalist, identified as Petra Laszlo, was fired and later apologized for her actions.
Ziad and his father, Osama Alabed Almohse, were among thousands of refugees fleeing Syria and headed to Germany. But when their story became international news, and word spread that Almohse was a soccer coach in Syria, the refugee was invited to teach at CENAFE, a Spanish school in the soccer-crazed nation that trains coaches for the sport.
Thursday, the father and son met the president of Real Madrid, which Forbes named this year as the most valuable sports team in the world.
On Saturday, however, Ziad's smile was ear-to-ear as he got to don the team's crisp white uniform and walk onto the field with the sport's most recognizable stars.
Zied walked on to the Bernabéu pitch with his hero @Cristiano. 😃📷 READ: http://t.co/7cQNhl7WyM #HalaMadrid
Ronaldo and the rest of the Real Madrid squad were all wearing T-shirts expressing their support for the thousands of refugees who have fled their war-torn homelands for Europe.
According to the Real Madrid, the club also plans to donate 1 million euros toward the humanitarian cause.
Ronaldo and the rest of the Real Madrid squad were all wearing T-shirts expressing their support for the thousands of refugees that have fled their war-torn countries and headed to Europe.
According to the team, which has a religious-like following all over the world, it also plans to donate 1 million Euros toward the cause.
This isn't the first time Ronaldo has offered support during an international crisis.
In August, Ronaldo heard about Jetin, a 13-year-old boy who was one of thousands affected by a devastating earthquake in Nepal in April.
Jetin was playing soccer when the quake struck, and kept playing after the shaking stopped.
He told a photographer on the scene that his favorite player was Ronaldo, and that he one day hoped to play for Real Madrid.
The photographer then reached out, and Ronaldo sent Jetin an autographed jersey.
The team is helping Almohse attain refugee status in Spain, where he will have to learn Spanish, but for Ziad on Saturday, his plight seemed to be far from the first thing on his mind.
