Alireza Beiranvand won Man of the Match as Iran FC held Belgium to a 0-0 draw at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The point gave Iran something tangible from a match built around his hands, his positioning and the long climb that put him on that stage.
Beiranvand is playing in his third World Cup for Iran, but the award points back to a far harder route. He was 12 when he ran away from home after Mortaza told him that “football was no job; it was a game.”
Naft Tehran and the long climb
Before the World Cup spotlight, Beiranvand slept outside the training grounds of local football clubs while looking for a trial. He had already worked as a street cleaner, in a dressmaking factory and later in a carwash, all while chasing a place in the game.
His path sharpened after a local side’s goalkeeper was injured and he volunteered to step in, then bought the gloves himself. At 16, he joined the youth academy of Naft Tehran, where a coach offered him a place to sleep in a prayer room. He also worked part-time in a pizzeria there, and at 18 he earned a professional deal.
Sarab-e Yas to Tehran
Beiranvand’s early life began far from the World Cup stage. He was the eldest child in a Kurdish nomad family from western Iran’s Zagros mountains, began shepherding at three years old, and later lived in Sarab-e Yas, a village 300 miles south-west of Tehran.
After the family settled there, he took a six-hour bus to Tehran after asking a relative for money. He spoke Laki, a Kurdish dialect with distinct differences from the predominant language in Tehran, and the move left him to sleep outside training grounds while he tried to be noticed.
Guinness World Records and Belgium
By the time Belgium faced Iran on Sunday, Beiranvand had already become a World Cup figure with two Guinness World Records to his name. He was also a goalkeeper whose rise carried the weight of a father who tried to shut the door on football and a player who kept pushing anyway.
Ali Daei was once a client of Beiranvand, and Akram later became his wife after he found a home. The 0-0 draw against Belgium gave him the individual award; the unanswered question is which saves or actions separated him from everyone else on the pitch.
