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Cristiano Ronaldo -

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.

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Cristiano Ronaldo -

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.

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Luis Suárez -

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.

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Luis Suárez -

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.

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Franck Ribéry -

The French winger was raised in a low-income neighborhood in northern France.

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Franck Ribéry -

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.

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Carlos Tévez -

The Argentinian player grew up in the impoverished and violent neighborhood of Fuerte Apache in Buenos Aires.

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Carlos Tévez -

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.

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Zlatan Ibrahimović -

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.

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Zlatan Ibrahimović -

His father was relatively absent, and young Ibrahimovic was often left to fend for himself, turning to stealing at some points.

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Neymar -

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.

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Neymar -

Neymar also miraculously survived a car crash that should have been fatal when he was just four months old.

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Ángel Di María -

The Argentinian grew up in Rosario, where he had to help his father in the coalyard in order to provide for the family.

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Ángel Di María -

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.

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Luka Modrić -

The Croatian grew up playing soccer as a way to distract himself from the violent conflict of the Croatian War of Independence.

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Luka Modrić -

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.

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Alexis Sánchez -

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.

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Alexis Sánchez -

Alexis Sánchez was one of four children, and his mother struggled so much financially that eventually he was adopted by his uncle, José Martínez.

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Yaya Touré -

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.

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Yaya Touré -

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."

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Dani Alves -

The Brazilian defender was born to a poor farming family in the city of Juazeiro, Bahia.

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Dani Alves -

As a child, he would work the land along with his four siblings, and played soccer as a form of relief from his daily reality.

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Alexander Hleb -

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.

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Alexander Hleb -

His family didn’t have much money, and young Alexander Hleb was limited to a single pair of old boots to play in.

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Yuri Zhirkov -

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.

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Yuri Zhirkov -

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.

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Steven Pienaar -

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.

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Steven Pienaar -

The endemic violence in the suburb where he was brought up sadly resulted in the death of one of his close friends.

See also: The extravagant lifestyle of soccer stars

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