The Kurdish goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, famously known for throwing the football over long distances, entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. Alireza threw the ball 61 metres with his hand during a match between the Iranian national team and South Korea on October 11, 2016.

The Guinness Book of World Records has sent the certificate to Boavista of the Portuguese Super League, the team he is currently playing for, to be awarded to Beiranvand. Beiranvand received the “certificate of recording the longest throw by hand in a football match.”

Who is Alireza Birenvand?

Beiranvand is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Portuguese side Boavista, on loan from the Belgium club Antwerp and the Iran national team.

He was born in the Lorestan province of Rojhelat ( Iranian Kurdistan) in 1992. When Beiranvand was 12, his family settled in Sarab-e Yas and there he started training with a team in the city. Although his father strongly opposed him playing football, he continued to play football and also worked at different types of jobs to make a living. In his teenage years, he ran away from home and moved to Tehran to become a professional footballer, where he was homeless for some time and slept in the streets.

After playing for Naft Tehran and then for Tractor Sazi he was transferred to one of Iran’s biggest football teams, Persepolis in 2016. He became the first goalkeeper of the Iranian national team in 2015 and has played 48 times for the Iranian national team so far.