From Ukraine to Gaza
When he was just two years old, he was involved in a car accident and needed more than 100 stitches in his face that left him with severe scarring.
His family didn’t have much money, and young Alexander Hleb was limited to a single pair of old boots to play in.
The South African soccer player grew up in the Johannesburg suburb of Westbury during Apartheid, when the violence was so bad that his mother didn’t allow him to sit and watch TV for fear of a bullet flying through the window and hitting him.
In 2011, he told the Guardian: "When there are seven in your family and you say you want to buy a pair your father wants to kill you."
The Uruguayan great grew up as one of seven children to parents who could scarcely afford to buy him boots. His father left when he was young, forcing him to take up work sweeping the streets.
His background doesn’t seem to have affected him negatively though, save for a turbulent period as a teenager when he fell in with the wrong crowd.
The Argentinian player grew up in the impoverished and violent neighborhood of Fuerte Apache in Buenos Aires.
While his formative years weren’t necessarily poverty-stricken, his father was an alcoholic and he was the youngest of four children, meaning that money was tight.
The Croatian grew up playing soccer as a way to distract himself from the violent conflict of the Croatian War of Independence.
The Russian international was born into a family in Tambov, central Russia, that didn’t have much money and struggled to buy basic items such as food and clothing.
His life was also complicated by the fact that he was a hyperactive child, but that was perhaps a good thing too: he was prescribed soccer at the tender age of three to help manage his hyperactivity.
Neymar also miraculously survived a car crash that should have been fatal when he was just four months old.
The striker was born in Tocopilla, Chile, and for a time was raised by just his mother, since his father was out of the picture.
The Argentinian grew up in Rosario, where he had to help his father in the coalyard in order to provide for the family.
Often thought of as one of history’s greatest soccer players, the reality of the Portuguese star’s childhood was far from the glamour of his lifestyle today.
The Brazilian superstar was born to working class parents in suburban São Paulo. His father had to work three jobs just to make ends meet, and the family went without electricity.
His father was relatively absent, and young Ibrahimovic was often left to fend for himself, turning to stealing at some points.
He too suffered terrible scarring to the face when he was a small child after he accidentally poured a kettle of boiling water over himself.
The endemic violence in the suburb where he was brought up sadly resulted in the death of one of his close friends.
The Belarusian midfielder is no stranger to hardship: he grew up in the wake of Chernobyl, and his father volunteered demolishing houses rendered uninhabitable by the disaster.
Alexis Sánchez was one of four children, and his mother struggled so much financially that eventually he was adopted by his uncle, José Martínez.
The Ivorian midfielder grew up playing soccer on the streets, but did not have a pair of boots until he was 10—he had several siblings, and money was tight.
The now infamous Swedish striker was born to working class immigrant parents in the city of Malmo. His parents had divorced before he was two, and he spent much time moving between their apartments with his siblings.
When his grandfather was executed by rebels, Luka Modrić and his family were forced into a refugee camp, where he would remain for seven years.
The French winger was raised in a low-income neighborhood in northern France.
Yuri Zhirkov would miss training in the summer months to help the family grow food so that they would have enough to eat over the winter.
Soccer players who grew up in poverty
The players with the most humble beginnings
LIFESTYLE Sports
Soccer has a reputation for being an everyman's game: if you have the talent and determination to make it, you can, no matter your social background. But while many successful soccer players had very comfortable childhoods, others weren't so lucky. Check out this gallery to find out which soccer stars had it rough when they were kids.