Tickets for Ronaldo 'China Tour' sell out in hours

Chinese football fans raced on Wednesday to snap up tickets to see Cristiano Ronaldo play a rare match in their home country, with multiple online platforms selling out within a few hours. Ronaldo is immensely popular in football-mad China.

The Portuguese star's current club, Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr, last month announced a "China Tour" featuring friendlies against Shanghai Shenhua and Zhejiang FC in the southern city of Shenzhen on January 24 and 28 respectively.  

Several media outlets reported that seats in all but the two most expensive categories had sold out "within seconds".  Ronaldo's perennial rival Lionel Messi electrified Beijing's Workers' Stadium last year when he scored after 79 seconds to lead world champions Argentina to a 2-0 friendly win over Australia.