Santiago Sánchez Cogedor had a dream: to attend the World Cup in Qatar and to make it happen he undertook a special journey...on foot from Spain to the Middle Eastern country.
Unfortunately, for several weeks, nothing is known about the fate of the young man who apparently has lost contact with his family and society. On January 8 of this year, the 40-year-old left the Spanish town on a long journey on foot through Europe and towards Asia to stop in the Arabian Peninsula where the World Cup will start on November 20.
The family is worried about his fate even though he is a former soldier used to the most extreme situations. The last to contact him in early October was a friend of his, according to whom Cogedor had just entered the Iraqi Kurdistan region and was 5 kilometers from the Iranian border.
"I last spoke to him on October 1st, he sent me his location. It was in Iraqi Kurdistan, five kilometers from the Iranian border."
Then Bergado also spoke about his other friend Coque: "Santiago sent him a message saying 'hot situation, but everything is fine'." I think he was referring to the Iranian women's protests against the government. But the contacts were cut off there."
According to his friend Santiago, he may have been stranded in Iran, precisely because of the difficult situation the country is experiencing. The family is anxious, waiting for the boy to come back alive.
The 40-year-old had planned to return to Spain after the World Cup via hitchhiking.
This is not the first time Santiago has undertaken such initiatives as in 2019 he arrived in Saudi Arabia on a bicycle to follow Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.