S’porean photographer whose photo was shared by Cristiano Ronaldo says it was ‘an absolute honour’

Singaporean photographer gets credited by Cristiano Ronaldo after football star shares his photo

On Wednesday (24 June), Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice against Uzbekistan in the World Cup, becoming the first player to score in six editions of the tournament.

The moment of jubilation was caught by Singaporean photographer Edmund Wong and subsequently shared on Instagram by Ronaldo himself — something that Mr Wong described as “an absolute honour”.

Ronaldo shares photo the day after photographer posts it on Instagram

The evocative photo showed Ronaldo’s ecstatic face as he was embraced by his Portugal teammates, who would go on to mark a 5-0 win.

It was uploaded on Instagram by Mr Wong on 24 June in collaboration with football media agency Pitchsiders, before Ronaldo shared it on the platform the next day.

It was initially captioned simply, “Unidos!” (Portuguese for “United”), without mention of who the photographer was.

The photo naturally gained millions of likes from the footballers’ 669 million followers.

Singaporean photographer reacts in disbelief after Ronaldo shares his photo

On the same day, Mr Wong then posted an Instagram reel where he smiled and shook his head in disbelief over his photo being shared by Ronaldo.

It also contained a clip of himself immediately after taking the photo.

In the caption, he said it was a “pinch me moment” and tagged Ronaldo in the comments, quipping about “payment and usage terms”.

In another comment on the same reel, he maintained that he was “eternally grateful” that Ronaldo used his photo because that means “he liked it enough to share them”.

He also had “no clue” how the football legend got the photo and found out only when a friend sent him a message after he got off a flight.

Singaporean photographer says credit should be given

In an Instagram Story, Mr Wong noted that he had not been credited or paid when Ronaldo used his photo.

He would have desired to be credited for his work even if he did not get paid, he said, adding:

Credit has to be given when the credit is due.

He professed to be a big fan of Ronaldo and football, but believed that “work is work” and people should be paid for their work “one way or another”.

‘All sorted now’: Ronaldo’s team reaches out

Mr Wong’s approach apparently worked, because Ronaldo’s post was edited on Friday (26 June) to add a photo credit to Mr Wong.

In his latest Instagram Story, the Singaporean said someone from the footballer’s team had reached out to him and it has “all been sorted now”.

He reiterated that it was “an absolute honour” for Ronaldo to have liked his photo and posted it on his own social media, and was glad that everything worked out well.

The share has resulted in new followers to his page and a collaboration with football-themed digital creative agency 433, which also shared his earlier reel.

S’porean paid S$15K for trip to World Cup

According to sports portal Baseline, Mr Wong is a freelance photographer and videographer who paid for his trip to cover World Cup.

The 30-year-old reportedly spent more than S$15,000 on his flights and accommodation.

The agent of Bayern Munich winger Luis Diaz had previously asked him for permission to use his photo of the player, while he was also commissioned by Pitchsiders to snap photos of AC Milan striker Santiago Gimenez.

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Featured image adapted from @muuund on Instagram.