Patrice Evra: “I used to live on the street and had to beg for a sandwich.”

The former soccer player Patrice Evra was born in Senegal, but grew up in France. As a footballer he had huge successes at AS Monaco, Manchester United, Juventus and the French team. But his life is not always as successful as most people know. Patrice lived on the street and had to beg to be able to eat.

His life

In a podcast of Manchester United, Patrice Evra tells about the tough years of his life. “To be honest, it was pretty hard in my childhood,” he says. “I lived in Paris, but on the streets. I had a lot of brothers and sisters, so that life wasn’t always easy. Sometimes we didn’t have any money for food.”

Begging on the streets

“I’m not afraid to say I begged for money for shops because I wanted to buy a sandwich.” Told Patrice Evra frankly in the podcast. “I asked people for money. Sometimes they gave me money and sometimes they didn’t.” Patrice Evra calls his childhood a black time, but also a happy time. “I was always happy and happiness laughed at me. It made me the man I am now. The streets have taught me much and made me stronger.” This period of his life has helped him a lot after France was eliminated at the World Championships. “Many people blamed me because I was captain, but I kept myself strong because I went through much tougher things on the streets.”

Motivate

During this interview, Patrice Evra tells us that he does not want to crawl into the victim at all. “I’m not a victim, and I’m not pathetic. I don’t want people to give me love because I’m telling all this. This is just my story. I want to motivate children never to give up.”

The whole podcast with Patrice Evra can be listened back here.