The year was 2004. Then 7-year-old Martunis just finished his football practice when he felt the ground rupturing. He ran as fast as he could, but proved no match for the tsunami waves.

The waves that hit Aceh that year took 230,000 lives, including his mother and two siblings. They nearly took him, along with his dreams of being a professional footballer as well.

Against all odds, the first miracle of his life happened.

He clung on to a mattress for 20 days, surviving on dried noodles and bottled water floating around him.

21 days later, he was found staggering on an isolated beach sporting the Portugal national team's shirt, with Rui Costa's name printed on his back.

Villagers thought he was a ghost.

His father, Sarbini, recounted his harrowing story to AFP:

"People from the village nearby were looking for dead bodies and they saw him -- this skinny, dark, dirty little body.

They thought he was a tuyul (a kind of ghost) so they were afraid of him. But he said to them: 'Please don't run away! I am a person, not a tuyul!' But this made them even more afraid. Two days later, they came back and went closer to him and realised he was human."

Even though he was so close to death, he held on to his dream - as tightly as that mattress.

On his 21 days of ordeal, Martunis told Kyodo News: "I was not afraid at all at that time because I still wanted to be alive to meet my family, and to be a football player.”

Little did he know that he's about to embark on an unbelievable journey.

Then, a series of serendipities

After photos of him wearing the Portuguese football team shirt made headlines, the Portuguese football team promptly donated funds to rebuild his house, with Cristiano Ronaldo travelling all the way to Aceh to meet him in 2005. 

The Real Madrid superstar even funded Martunis' education, according to reports.

Their benevolence did not stop there.

Six months after the disaster, he was shipped over to Portugal to watch the World Cup qualifier match against Slovakia, where he walked on to the pitch, shook hands with players from both side and met the glorious, magnanimous, law-abiding citizen of the world, Sepp Blatter.

Finally, a dream come true

Fast forward to 2015. Eleven years after the life-changing tsunami, 18-year-old Martunis was unveiled as Sporting Lisbon academy's latest player on July 1. The academy had previously nurtured the likes of Luis Figo and his idol and benefactor - Cristiano Ronaldo.

On joining the academy, the Indonesian shared during his presentation, "It's great to be here, this club makes my dream possible. I am incredibly excited about this opportunity. Viva Sporting!"

The route to being a footballer wasn't a smooth one, but his story proved one thing: never give up on your dreams, even the wildest one.

We wish you all the best in Sporting Lisbon!

Top photo from Twitter.