15 most famous brothers in football

“Help your brother’s boat across, and your own will reach the shore.” The above is an old Hindu saying, and it rightly stands as having a brother grow up with you, you have someone to lean on, someone to count on, someone to tell on, or in this case, someone to play your first game with.There have been several brothers in the history of the game who have both made it large in their life, from winning a domestic league together to seeing their other half leave their club.In this slideshow, we take a look at football’s most popular brothers:

#1 The Baresi brothers

Giuseppe Baresi and Franco Baresi

Nationality: Italian

Age: 57 and 55 respectively.

Giuseppe Baresi, a former Inter Milan regular having played over 400 matches for the Nerazzurri, currently works as a technical assistant at the club, while his younger brother, Franco Baresi played for arch-rivals AC Milan, and was even named their Player of the Century back in 1999, and was further added by Pele in his list of 125 Greatest Living Footballers.

Both the brothers had trophy-laden careers with the two sharing six Serie A titles, three Champions League trophies and six UEFA Super Cups.

#2 The Charlton Brothers

Jack Charlton and Bobby Charlton

Nationality: English

Age: 80 and 77 respectively.

Jack Charlton was part of the England team that had won the 1966 World Cup along with his younger brother, Bobby Charlton who is considered to be one of the greatest Englishmen to have played the game of football. Both the brothers had spent their entire career with one team, Jack represented Leeds from 1950 to 1973, during which he led the club to the Second and First Division title, the FA Cup, the League Cup and also the Charity Shield, while Bobby who had made his Manchester United debut in 1956, captained the side to a European Cup victory, which was a first for any English side.

Bobby holds the record of having scored more goals than any other English, or Manchester United striker in the history, and even held the record for the most club appearances until United’s current assistant manager Ryan Giggs broke it.

#3 The Neville brothers

Gary Neville and Phil Neville

Nationality: English

Age: 40 and 38 respectively.

The brothers who defended the flanks for club as well as for country have enriched British football due to their contribution in the past two decades. Both of them had started their careers with Manchester United, with the elder one ending his career at the same club.

After retiring from professional football, Gary Neville has tried his hand at punditry and currenty works as a commentator for Sky Sports. He has won 8 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cups and 2 League Cups. Eventually, Gary Neville has also won a Champions League trophy in the year 1999 along with Phil Neville and the Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘Class of 92′.

One of the most versatile footballers in England, Phil Neville has announced his departure from Everton FC at the end of the season. Before joining Everton in the year 2005, along with Gary, Phil also has won numerous trophies under Sir Alex Ferguson which includes 6 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cups and a Champions League trophy.

#4 The Cannavaro brothers

Fabio Cannavaro and Paolo Cannavaro

Nationality: Italian

Age: 41 and 33 respectively.

Fabio Cannavaro is perhaps one of the greatest centre backs to have graced the game, and his accolades include the FIFA World Player of the Year award that he had won in 2006, making him the only defender to win the award in a decade, and only the third defender to ever win it at all. Cannavaro’s younger brother

Paolo is also a centre back, and a very good one at that. He currently plays for Serie A side Sassuolo. Both of them played together at Parma with Paolo making his debut after coming in to replace his brother as a substitute in a match against Leece.

#5 The Laudrup Brothers

Michael Laudrup and Brian Laudrup

Nationality: Danish

Age: 51 and 46 respectively.

The Laudrup brothers are one of the most recognisable sibling pairs in football, with both of them having sharing numerous trophies and individual accolades.

Both the Laudrup brothers are regarded as one of the greatest football players; Michael was awarded the title of being the Golden Player of Denmark by the Danish FA as he stood out as their best player in the past 50 years, while Brian had himself won the Danish Footballer of the Year award a record four times.

If you look at their trophy cabinet, the duo share two Serie A titles, two UEFA Champions League title, three Scottish Premier Division, five La Liga trophies and many more.

#6 The Toure Brothers

Kolo Toure and Yaya Toure

Nationality: Ivorian

Age: 34 and 32 respectively.

Previously a group of three, the Toure Brothers had recently lost their youngest, Ibrahim Toure following a battle with cancer. Yaya, who has 82 caps with the Ivory Coast national team, has won the La Liga twice and a Champions League with Barcelona, and two Premier League titles with his current team Manchester City. Kolo, on the other hand, was a part of the Arsenal team that had won the Premier League title in the 2003/04 season, and another one with Manchester City in the 2011/12 season, currently plays for Liverpool.

#7 The Ferdinand brothers

Rio Ferdinand and Anton Ferdinand

Nationality: English

Age: 36 and 30 respectively.

Unlike Rio, Anton may not have enjoyed the same glorious character, having represented West Ham, Sunderland, QPR, Bursaspor, Antalyaspor and currently Thai club Police United, the defender is best known for his feud against Chelsea defender John Terry. Rio, on the other hand, had been one of Manchester United’s best players for the last ten years.

Rio has represented England at the highest level 81 times, while Anton has failed to receive a call up yet. With Manchester United, Rio has won the Premier League six times, and even bagged a Champions League victory in 2008.

#8 The Boateng brothers

Kevin-Prince Boateng and Jérôme Boateng

Nationality: Ghanaian and German

Age: 28 and 26 respectively.

Unlike most of the brothers in this list, the Boateng brothers represent not only two different clubs, but two different nations altogether; Kevin is a Ghanaian international, while Jerome is a starter for the German national team. Both of them were raised in Germany, but Kevin went onto accept the offer from the Ghana Football Association to play for their national team. Kevin, who was recently sacked by his club Schalke, has played for clubs like Milan, Dortmund and Tottenham.

Jereme, on the other hand, who is a defender has been a permanent figure at the Allianz Arena, having won the UEFA Champions League and Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.

#9 The Da Silva Twins

Rafael da Silva and Fabio da Silva

Nationality: Brazil

Age: Both of them are 25 years old.

The da Silva brothers had both started their careers at Fluminense, and then later moved on to join 20-times Premier League champions Manchester United. Rafael, perhaps the better of the two is still at Old Trafford while Fabio, who had failed to cement his place at the club, is currently playing for Cardiff.

The duo has often drawn comparisons to the Neville brothers, but despite their young age, it is highly unlikely that they can go on to be as successful as the Neville brothers were.

#10 The de Boer brothers

Frank de Boer and Ronald de Boer

Nationality: Dutch

Age: Both of them are 45 years old.

The Dutch twins have played together at Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al Rayyan, Al-Shamal, and the Dutch national team, sharing five Eredivisie titles, one La Liga and one Champions League between themselves. Frank, who had a total of 112 international caps later went on to manage the team as well, but currently serves as Ajax’s first team manager. The bond between the two brothers is still unbroken with Ronaldo currently working as Ajax A1 assistant manager.

#11 The Hazard brothers

Eden Hazard, Thorgan Hazard, Kylian Hazard and Ethan Hazard

Nationality: Belgian

Age: 24, 22, 20 and 12 respectively.

Eden Hazard is already a well-known name all around the World, having drawn comparisons to Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. The Chelsea attacker was also named the club’s best player for the 2013-14 season.

Moving down the family tree, you have Thorgan, who is also signed up with Chelsea, but is now out on loan at Bundesliga side Gladbach. Thorgan was named the player of the season in Belgium last year. Kylian, who also is an attacking midfielder like Eden, currently represents Belgium side Sv Zulte-Waregem, while 11-year-old Ethan is said to be following the footsteps of his brothers as well.

#12 The Altintop brothers

Halil Altntop and Hamit Altntop

Nationality: Turkish

Age: Both of them are 32 years old.

The identical twins are both epitomes of the versatility Turkish players are associated to. Hamit, who was born ten minutes after Halil has played for many of the top European clubs, having played for Schalke, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Galatasaray, which is also his current club.

Halil too has played for several clubs throughout his career, but currently represents FC Augsburg in the German Bundesliga. The duo have been regulars for the Turkish National team since 2004, and share over 100 international caps between themselves.

#13 The Gotze brothers

Fabian Götze, Mario Götze and Felix Götze

Nationality: German

Age: 25, 23 and 17 respectively.

Fabian and Mario Götze are already well known in Germany, with the latter having recently scored the winner against Argentina helping Germany win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Both of them had started their career with SC Ronsberg, followed by stints at FC Eintracht Hombruc and Borussia Dortmund.

Fabian then went on to play for two different clubs, and currently represents Unterhaching, a third division club in Germany. Mario, on the other hand, went on to earn immense success with Dortmund winning the Bundesliga with them twice in a row, and then moving onto arch rivals Bayern Munich. The youngest in the lot, Felix seems to be following his brother’s footsteps having signed for Bayern.

#14 The Hleb brothers

Alexander Hleb and Vyacheslav Hleb

Nationality: Belarusian

Age: 34 and 32 respectively.

Maybe not as famous or successful as the other pairs in this list, the brother-duo of Alexander and Vyacheslav are two big heroes back in their nation with over 50 international caps each for Belarus. Alexander, who currently represents Gençlerbirlii, a Turkish Super Ligue 1 club, is most known for his stints with Premier League side Arsenal and La Liga giants Barcelona, with whom he had won the Champions League and the domestic league title. He was also awarded the Belarusian Footballer of the year trophy six times in a row from 2002 to 2008.

Vyacheslav, on the other hand, hasn’t seen the same success like his brother, but has represented Belarus 45 times with 12 goals to his name. He is currently contracted to Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino, a Belarusian Premier League side.

#15 The Bender brothers

Lars Bender and Sven Bender

Nationality: German

Age: Both of them are 26 years old.

The German twins have a lot of things similar,

Lars Bender and Sven Bender were both born in 27th of April 1989 as twins, and the duo have a lot in common other than the club they represent. Both of them are defensive midfielders, and have represented Germany at the highest level even though they couldn’t make a cut for the squad that triumphed in the FIFA World Cup Brazil.

After starting their professional careers at 1860 München, the brothers parted ways after offers started coming in. Currently, Lars plays for Bayer Leverkusen, and is one of their marquee players with over 160 first team appearances. On the other hand, his brother, Sven plays for Borussia Dortmund with over 130 appearances for the Black and Yellows.

They were both part of the squad that was victorious in the UEFA Under 19 championship back in 2008.