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To achieve your dreams, you have to really want it. You need drive, determination and, if this video is anything to go by, a good pair of legs.

Taken in Hanoi by a member of English Premier League football club Arsenal, the following video sees one young Vietnamese fan chasing after the team’s tour bus for some five miles, waving and pounding the badge emblazoned on his chest with such vigour that the team eventually decides to welcome him on board for a once-in-a-lifetime private autograph and photo session.

Despite the extreme Vietnam heat, Arsenal fan Vu Xuan Tien became an example to both his fellow supporters and the players he idolizes as he ran alongside the football team’s official tour bus, keeping up with it long after all others had waved their last and headed home.

No matter how many lamp posts, trees and stalls he had to dodge, the diehard fan just kept on running…

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And smiling!

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Miles down the road, he even managed to hitch a ride on the back of a scooter and kept up with the bus when it broke through the traffic, calling out the players and waving until the team, joking that their manager should sign the athletic young man up to play for them, decided to stop the bus and bring him on board.

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As Tien found himself surrounded by his sporting idols, the team cheered and gave him a round of applause before passing the Arsenal shirt he was wearing around to be signed, at which point Tien revealed a stomach so ripped that it put a few of the professional footballers to shame.

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▼ Manager Arsene Wenger signs the delighted fan’s shirt.

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Uploaded to the team’s official YouTube page, the tale of “The Running Man” has been viewed more than 2.5 million times to date, and is showing no sign of slowing down.

Keeping running, football fans!

Source: Kotaro (Japanese)
Video/images: YouTube ArsenalTour