From a car wash to an idol in his country. The incredible story of a goalkeeper overcoming

The life story of Iran’s goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand, is not very different from that of so many football players around the world, who had a poor childhood, but, with a lot of effort and dedication, managed to improve their lives. To get there, Alireza lived on the streets, earning some money washing cars.

The Inrível.club presents yet another beautiful and inspiring story of overcoming obstacles.

Alireza was born into a simple family of nomads and spent most of his childhood herding sheep to help the family. During her free time, she played soccer with other boys. She also played ‘dal paran’, a common game among Iranian children that involves throwing stones. Little did he know that practicing this ‘sport’ would end up being useful in developing his future goalkeeping skills.

Little Alireza was passionate about football, especially playing in goal. But his father did not look kindly on this passion and even tore up his uniform and gloves.

But he insisted on the dream. And when he got a little older, he borrowed some money from his family and moved to Tehran, the capital of the country, to try his hand at football.

As an old saying goes, luck smiles on those who work hard. And the young goalkeeper had his first opportunity in the Vahdat team, thanks to coach Hossein Feiz, who saw in him a talent to be honed. Living in the Iranian capital without many resources, Alireza even slept on the street.

In those difficult times, he would take any decent job to survive while chasing the dream. He worked in a textile factory, at a car wash, in a pizzeria and as a cleaning assistant. As you can imagine, times were difficult and, when she wasn’t working a day job, Alireza was dedicated to training. He knew he couldn’t handle this life for long and thought about giving up on the dream.

But the hard work paid off. Soon, the goalkeeper was called to the “Naft Teherán Football Club”, a most respected team in the country, and was able to show all his talent. The technique of throwing stones, trained during the years as a shepherd, ended up serving as the basis for his incredible replacements.

The great performances earned invitations to the under-20, then under-22 teams and, finally, in 2015, to the main team of Iran. And his stats ahead of the Iranian goal are respectable.🇧🇷 He spent 12 of the 13 World Cup qualifiers without conceding a goal. And in the group stage of the Cup, when the team was eliminated, he only conceded two goals, one from Portugal and
one from Spain.

In the last match of the group stage, precisely against Portugal, in a darmatic game that almost earned Iran the classification, Alireza entered the history of football in his country. He had the coolness to, in one of the most critical moments of the match, save a penalty taken by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Once upon a time there was a shepherd boy who, against his family’s wishes, decided to pursue his dreams. He dropped everything, went to live in his country’s capital and worked hard. But his dedication paid off. Alireza’s story shows how important it is not to give up.