7 lesser known players who are brothers of Chelsea stars

Former Chelsea captain and club legend John Terry has an elder brother Paul who played in England’s lower divisions throughout his career before retiring in 2012. It goes without saying that Paul isn’t half as famous as John.

Similarly, Didier Drogba also has two younger brothers Joel and Freddy. Unlike Didier, the professional careers of both Joel and Freddy never took off. Joel had one season as a professional which ended in 2008 and 26-year-old Freddy has been without a club since 2012.

Just like former Chelsea stars Drogba and Terry, there are five players in the current Chelsea squad with brothers who are living in the shadows of their more famous siblings. One of these Chelsea players has a half-brother and another has three brothers including one with whom he has played at the international level.

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Bradley Hudson-Odoi

Seventeen-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi is the most recent in a long list of promising players to come through the Chelsea academy. After winning the FIFA U-17 World Cup with England last season, he was fast-tracked into the first team and is highly-rated by the Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri.

Callum is the son of former professional footballer Bismark Odoi and the Chelsea man has an older brother, Bradley Hudson-Odoi. Callum was born in England and has represented England up to the U-19 level but his 29-year-old brother was born in Ghana and only represented Ghana at the U-20 level.

Bradley came through the Fulham academy but never played for the first team. He has spent his entire professional career in England’s lower division and has played for eleven different clubs in the last ten years! He currently plays for Wealdstone in the sixth tier of English football.

The elder brother, who is a forward, was part of the Sutton United team that made a shock run to the fifth round of the FA Cup in 2017 before losing 2-0 to Arsenal.

Emerson Palmieri and Giovanni Palmieri

Emerson Palmieri has an older brother Giovanni Palmieri who is also a left-back and plays for Brazilian club América Mineiro.

While Emerson was snapped up by Brazilian giants, Santos, at a young age, Giovanni had to start in the lower divisions and make his way up. In 2016, he joined Fluminense with whom he won the Primeira Liga before going on loan to América Mineiro and helping them gain promotion in 2017.

Giovanni has immense faith in his brother and had many good things to say about him after his move to Chelsea.

"As an older brother, I always try to advise him [Emerson] with some situations I've been through and what I think is right, but I also get advice from him. We help each other. He has been building a brilliant career, full of moves to great clubs and his call for the Italian team.

"It's a very beautiful career. I hope the new chapters of his career continue to help his rise, for he has worked hard to achieve these goals. I was proud to see my brother go through so much and get a place in the Italian national team.

"It filled me with pride and he's really worthy of everything he's been getting. I knew he could adapt [in Europe]. He is a winning guy, with a lot of personality and, like me, a dreamer. He knew that he would overcome any obstacle to remain in steady pursuit of his dreams.”

Antonio Rudiger and Sahr Senesie

Antonio Rudiger is a German with a mother from Sierra Leone and through his mother, Rudiger has a half-brother, Sahr Senesie, who was born in Sierra Leone but grew up in Germany.

Senesie was a forward who came through the Academy of Borussia Dortmund and made his professional debut with the German giants before moving elsewhere to find more opportunities. However, he spent his remaining career in the lower divisions before retiring in 2015.

Although Senesie was born in Sierra Leone, he represented Germany at the youth levels and was a key part of their team that played in the 2005 U-20 World Cup.

He is currently the agent of Rudiger and is eight years older.

"Toni [Rudiger] often used to visit me during the holidays. Sometimes I even took him to work out with me. When I trained for Borussia Dortmund under our coach Matthias Sammer, he used to play on another pitch next to us with Sammer's son Marvin."

"Years later, when he was playing for the national team, Toni met Roman Weidenfeller, who was the goalkeeper for Borussia Dortmund, and he immediately recognised him. 'You are Sahr's little brother,' he said. 'The one who always played with us and Marvin.'"

Cesar Azpilicueta and Juan Pablo Azpilicueta

Cesar Azpilicueta has been one of Chelsea’s most important players ever since his move to the club in 2012 from Olympique Lyon. The Spaniard is now the Chelsea vice-captain and has won five trophies with Chelsea so far. He was also named Chelsea’s Players’ Player of the Year in 2013/14.

While Azpilicueta is in the limelight with Chelsea and has also played for Spain at the international level, his elder brother, Juan Pablo Azpilicueta has been completely overshadowed by the younger brother’s success.

The brothers were born in Pamplona, Spain nine years apart and Cezar started his professional career with local club Osasuna. However, Juan Pablo made his professional debut with Mutilvera which was in the fourth division of Spanish football at that time.

Juan Pablo was a midfielder who played for thirteen different clubs in the space of 16 years in the lower divisions of Spain with very little success before retiring in 2016.

Eden, Thorgan, Kylian and Ethan Hazard

Eden Hazard comes from a family of footballers. His mother and father were footballers and he has three younger brothers - Thorgan, Kylian and Ethan who are also footballers. Eden is considered one of the best footballers in the world at the moment and he has put a lot of pressure on his younger brothers.

His first brother, Thorgan, joined Chelsea in 2012 soon after signing Eden. However, Thorgan went on loan to Zulte Waregem immediately for a two-year period followed by another spell on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga. He joined the German club permanently in 2015 and has been with them since as a key first-team player.

Thorgan has played 153 games for Gladbach, scored 38 goals and assisted a further 35. He is also capped by Belgium at the senior level and has represented the team on 14 occasions and was also part of the squad that played at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Eden’s second brother, Kylian, is currently contracted to Chelsea after joining them in 2017. The 23-year-old hasn’t enjoyed a great career so far and is currently playing on loan for Belgian club Cercle Brugge.

The youngest brother, Ethan, is playing in the academy of Eden’s former club Tubize.

Edited by Sripad