Before Beiranvand became an international soccer star, he worked as a street cleaner and slept outside his local team’s stadium.
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Ahead of the 2018 World Cup, The Guardian wrote a detailed profile piece about Beiranvand, explaining how his family didn’t approve of his choice to play soccer.
“My father didn’t like football at all and he asked me to work,” said Beiranvand to The Guardian. “He even tore my clothes and gloves and I played with bare hands several times.”
Beiranvand eventually ran away from home and took a bus to Tehran as a teenager.
He worked many other jobs (at a car wash, a pizza shop and as a street cleaner) but struggled to afford a place to sleep at night.
“I slept by the club’s door and when I got up in the morning I noticed the coins that people had dropped for me,” he said. “They had thought I was a beggar! Well, I had a delicious breakfast for the first time in a long while.”
The keeper made his professional debut with Naft Tehran as a 19-year-old.
Iran has been eliminated from the World Cup, but the 25-year-old will continue to inspire as he plays for Persepolis F.C.
