Many are the players who have defeated extreme poverty thanks to their footballing talent that has turned them into stars and wealthy people who make tens of millions inside and outside the green rectangle. Among them are five players who will tell their stories in this report.
- Senegalese Sadio Mani
Liverpool's current top scorer, who has been offered a contract extension until 2025 for $ 275,000 a week. He grew up in a poor village in Senegal, where there is no hospital and most of the people work in agriculture. Only Sadio, who had a big dream of being a professional footballer, played ball in the streets for long hours, and the 15-year-old traveled to the capital Dakar in search of a chance. The official in charge of the tests, noting that his shoes are worn and not fit to play the ball or even his clothes, asked him "How will you play the ball with this old torn shoe?".
The talent of Mani, 27, later led him to Metz, Salzburg, Southampton and Liverpool, but the Muslim player, who comes from a conservative family, did not forget his village, where he established a school and a football academy to help children and avoid the suffering he went through.
Frenchman Franck Ribery
One of the best players in the history of the round witch, he was close to winning the Golden Ball in 2013 after winning the treble with his former team Bayern Munich (domestic league and cup and Champions League). Ribery, who comes from a poor community in northern France, suffered a fatal car accident at his second year that left a stitch in his face and neck, but then refused to undergo a cosmetic surgery by saying, "These stitches are part of me."
Ribery, 36, worked in construction to help his father, a dangerous career that did not prevent him from shining in the world of football, moved between several teams in Europe and climbed to the glory of football with Bayern (2007-2019), before moving since the beginning of this season to Fiorentina offers striking levels.
- Chilean Alexis Sanchez
The former Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United and Inter Milan star came from a poor village and was working in mines and washing cars to help his parents.He did not have shoes or clothes to play football in the street, until someone ratified him and gave him shoes and clothes.
But the player, who earned 588,000 euros a week from United, launched a charity in his own name in his village and set up two football fields because he had no chance to play on a football pitch when he was young.
Sanchez now wants to help give young people another chance to grow up in an environment dominated by poverty and drugs, and football is believed to be one of the most important means of getting young people out of these communities.
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden
The most arrogant and controversial player in football history, this vanity seems to be due to his upbringing in a very poor environment in his country Sweden.
The brawler and talented scorer lived a cruel childhood that made him a skillful thief, learning to break locks and steal bicycles.
This suffering has given the world of the witch a round player who played for the big Europeans such as Milan, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Manchester United, before moving to Los Angeles Galaxy in the American league. He established a football stadium in his city and named it.
- Argentine Angel Di Maria
He grew up in a poor village in Argentina, and his parents worked as a coal collector, a hard and dangerous job. When he was 10, his sister and his parents worked in the same profession.
Di Maria, 31, shared the room with his sister in a collapsed house.His father stayed in coal for 16 years, until Angel signed his first contract with Benfica in the 2007-2008 season, and then moved to Real Madrid and then Manchester United. To join PSG and continue to shine.
This is a small group of hundreds of players who, with talent, luck and perseverance, have been able to shake off the dust and suffering of them and reach the peak of fame, richness and pleasure thanks to a round leather ball and a green rectangle.