FUNCHAL (Madeira), Aug 10 — Around 2,000 people reportedly descended on a cathedral in Cristiano Ronaldo’s native Madeira at the weekend, phones held high and hoping to catch the football superstar marrying Georgina Rodríguez.
There was just one problem.
The bride was Nicole. The groom was Fábio. And Cristiano and Georgina were nowhere to be seen.
The extraordinary mix-up unfolded outside Funchal’s Sé Cathedral on Saturday afternoon after another round of speculation claimed Ronaldo and his long-time partner were preparing to tie the knot there, according to Euronews.
Hundreds began gathering at about 3pm as the wedding inside ran slightly behind schedule and the bride had yet to arrive.
With excitement building, around 2,000 people crowded outside the cathedral, many apparently expecting one of the most closely watched celebrity weddings of the year.
Instead, when the bride finally appeared, those hoping for Georgina were greeted by Nicole.
And anyone who managed to see inside the cathedral would have discovered Fábio — rather than the five-time Ballon d’Or winner — waiting at the altar.
The unexpected attention at least gave the couple and their guests a wedding story they are unlikely to forget.
“We feel like celebrities,” one guest joked to local newspaper Diário de Notícias da Madeira, according to Euronews.
The confusion was not confined to curious locals.
Helena Ferro Gouveia, a former journalist and CNN Portugal commentator, said her eldest daughter had travelled from Germany after becoming swept up in the speculation.
A “die-hard fan” of Ronaldo, she had made the journey hoping to “catch a glimpse of the wedding” — only to witness Fábio and Nicole’s big day instead.
Rumours surrounding Ronaldo and Georgina’s marriage plans have been circulating relentlessly, with different reports repeatedly proposing new dates and venues.
One earlier claim suggested the couple would marry at Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra on August 2.
Another placed the wedding at Funchal Cathedral at 3pm on August 8, with a reception supposedly planned at the luxury Savoy Palace hotel.
The claim gained further traction after reports that two floors of the hotel had been reserved for a private event that day.
But the wedding frenzy grew so intense around the cathedral that even the local diocese became involved.
It later shared photographs from Fábio and Nicole’s actual ceremony on Facebook as it sought to clear up the confusion over who was getting married.
“After a lot of confusion in the street with so many journalists and tourists, we finally managed to close the church and celebrate,” the diocese wrote.
Social media has repeatedly married off Ronaldo and Georgina, with supposed photographs and videos of their wedding circulating online.
Some of those images have been manipulated using artificial intelligence, according to Euronews, with football stars including Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar supposedly pictured among the guests.
Yet clues from Ronaldo’s own family continue to cast doubt on the breathless speculation.
His sister Kátia Aveiro posted on Instagram that she was in Lisbon and intended to remain in the Portuguese capital “for a few more days” — hardly the most obvious place to be if her brother was preparing to marry back home in Madeira.
For now, football fans hoping to see Ronaldo walk down the aisle will have to keep waiting.
Fábio and Nicole, meanwhile, can claim something considerably more unusual: a wedding attended — accidentally, at least — by thousands of Cristiano Ronaldo fans.
