Top 7 current footballers who came from poverty

The beautiful game has been graced by sublime talents and immortal names over the years. The likes of Diego Armando Maradona, Eusebio, Jairzinho, Garrincha, George Weah, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and the biggest of them all – Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, “Pele”. Now, other than being legends of the game, what else did these wonderful footballers have in common?It’s their childhood background; a life spent growing up in the streets, without food, money or luxuries, working for their livelihood from a tender age, knowing it’s a tough place out there, with the only thing that that gave them comfort and solace being that magical sphere 28 inches in circumference.Maybe it was this tough upbringing that made them fight hard for success – knowing from an early age that things seldom go your way and that you have to fight, fight and fight more to achieve something. Even today, we have some of the biggest names in the game, coming from the most humble of backgrounds – for life wasn’t handed to them on a silver platter; they had to earn things.Here’s a look at the seven best footballers in the world today who went from rags to riches.

#7 Carlos Bacca

In football, 20 is an age when young footballers usually become full-fledged professionals. But in Carlos Bacca’s case, at that age, he was living in his hometown in Colombia, working as bus driver’s assistant to make ends meet.

“At 20 I was living in my village, Puerto Colombia, working as a bus driver’s assistant. Life was far from easy. Next I had to work as a ticket collector on the buses because I come from a poor family and had to earn money to help them out,” he had said in an interview shortly after he had signed for Sevilla in 2013. 

“The doors of football had been closed to me for some time and at my age, it wasn’t something I could count on anymore. But that year I trialled for Junior de Barranquilla and, thank God, they took me.”

After playing in the local leagues in his hometown, Bacca began his professional career with Atletico Junior before moving going on a few loan moves. “It wasn’t until 2009, at the age of 23 that I played in my professional league match.

“I had a hard time as a child and when I started making money I thought I had made it, but I was wrong. I picked myself up and carried on. The brave are not those who let themselves sink but those who rise up stronger.”

Bacca who once thought that the ‘doors of football had been closed’ for him managed to kick it wide open thanks to his never-say-die attitude.