Five famous football players who came from poverty

Football is “the beautiful game”, and it is a game for everyone. Not limited to the rich, the game allows everyone, no matter what their background, to participate and make a name for themselves. Footballers are among the highest-paid athletes in the world, with the best players making hundreds of thousands of dollars every week. However, this wasn’t always the case for most footballers.

Many of our favorite players were not born rich; instead, they worked their way to the top with dedication and hard work. Casino India allows you to play online casino games, including sports-related games, from the comfort of your home and enjoy the best time without leaving your house.

The footballing world is full of success stories of players who didn’t have shoes to wear at one point to becoming millionaires within years. Below, we have mentioned some of the most famous footballing legends who rose from poverty.

Cristiano Ronaldo

A player with a net worth north of hundreds of millions of dollars, Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aveiro, wasn’t born in a rich household. He had humble beginnings and was born in a neighborhood in Madeira, from where he started his football career before leaving for Sporting CP. Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, worked in a canteen, and his father used to strip bushes. He didn’t have the best childhood and had his fair share of financial and emotional problems; nevertheless, because of his hard work and his will to never give up, Ronaldo made it to Manchester United; the rest, as they say, is history.

Zinedine Zidane

One of the greatest midfielders the world has ever seen was born into poverty and could not even afford football shoes at one point in his life. One of the most famous quotes of Zidane is, “I once cried because I had no shoes to play football, but one day, I met a man who had no feet”. This simple quote goes to show that no matter how bad your situation is, there might be other people suffering from even worse. Born to Algerian migrants, Zidane developed his game on the streets of Marseille and was able to make it to Caen’s academy, from where he started his glorious career.

Alexis Sanchez

The Chilean footballer, who won the Copa America with his country and was the highest-paid footballer in the Premier League at one point, is also from a humble background. Abandoned by his biological father at a very young age, Alexis Sanchez had to wash cars and work in a circus to make money for his family and help out his mother and step-father. However, with his talent, he was able to attract the attention of scouts from C.D Cobreloa, where his career began.

Neymar

One of the most talented footballers the world has ever seen could not afford football shoes and got his first pair from a garbage dump. Neymar, like many other footballing greats, had humble beginnings and comes from a family that had nothing only a decade or two ago. When he wasn’t working with his father in ports and parking lots, Neymar was playing football in the streets of Brazil. Within a few years, he made it to Santos and attracted the attention of every major club. Today, he still holds the record for the most expensive transfer ever at 222 million Euros, when he moved to PSG from FC Barcelona.

Angel Di Maria

Born in Rosario, Angel Di Maria was born in a family that couldn’t even afford proper meals. His parents worked in a coal mine and were not able to make a lot of money. Di Maria has been super-thin from his childhood because he did not eat much. Nevertheless, because of his footballing skills, he moved to Europe and played for Benfica before moving to Real Madrid and establishing himself as one of the top-tier players in the world. When he received his first salary, Di Maria bought his parents a house.

Five famous football players who came from poverty