INTERNATIONAL: Four Argentine friends will cycle 10,500 kilometers from South Africa to Qatar to support their country at the World Cup in November, an initiative that will also lead to 10,500 new trees being planted in their homeland.

Lucas Ledezma, Leandro Blanco Pighi, Silvio Gatti and Sebastian Rodriguez, from the province of Cordoba, will start cycling on May 15 from Cape Town to Doha, a journey that will cross 15 countries on two continents.

"We will be pedalling 10,500 kilometres (6524 miles) crossing through Africa and the Middle East, passing through 15 countries,” Ledezma, a 34-year-old physical education teacher, told Reuters. “It will take us approximately six months to arrive and witness the 2022 World Cup (FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022)," he added.

Argentina is scheduled to play their first match at this year's tournament on Nov. 22 against Saudi Arabia at the Lusail stadium.

Ledezma has previous experience in this type of crossing. As well as cycling to Brazil to attend the 2014 World Cup and also to Russia for the 2018 finals, he has travelled through various countries on two wheels to cheer on his compatriots at the 2018 Rio Olympics and the 2015 Copa America in Chile.

For his 2022 adventure, he will be joined by a documentary maker, a writer and a travel agent.

"There is planning for months, sitting down to find out what is happening in each country, there is a deep investigation," said 31-year-old writer Pighi.

"Travelling by bicycle is something beautiful because we don't skip anywhere, we feel the journey, each little tree, each house, each family, kilometer by kilometer," he added, enthusiastically.

Besides watching the matches, the trip aims to help the environment. Each kilometer travelled will be marked by the planting of a tree in the mountains of Cordoba, located about 600 kilometers northwest of the country's capital, Buenos Aires.

^{PHOTO: CYCLISTS THROUGH THE STREETS OF BUENOS AIRES / SOUNDBITES FROM CYCLISTS ON TRAVELLING BY BICYCLE TO REACH QATAR WORLD CUP}