Top 5 football brothers and interesting facts to know about them

Over the years, football brothers have played together (or apart) at national teams or club level and have entertained football fans.

We have seen football brothers lock horns in fierce rivalry while others had smooth playing times with or against their brothers.

In this piece, NRTC takes a detailed assessment of the playing times of five different football brothers (active and retired).

Jerome and Kevin-Prince Boateng

Both players came through the ranks, excelling as top professionals after featuring for the Hertha junior levels.

Jerome was the more successful footballer. While Kevin-Prince represented Ghana at international level, Jerome played for Germany. The latter won the 2014 World Cup with Die Maanschaft in Brazil.

ALSO READ:

• 5 popular footballers you never knew had footballing brothers
• The remarkable Top 10 Football Twins
• Jurgen Klopp’s assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders named RB Salzburg’s coach
• Victor Boniface wins Bundesliga Rookie of the Season award
• AFCON, Paris Olympics and other top sporting events you shouldn’t miss in 2024

He also won the Champions League twice with Bayern Munich. The 35-year-old claimed two UEFA Super Cups and two FIFA Club World Cups while with the Bavarians.

Interestingly, Jerome Boateng won nine consecutive Bundesliga titles between 2013 and 2021. He last featured for Lyon during the 2022-23 Ligue 1 season.

What a lot of people don’t know is that Jerome played for Manchester City. He made 16 appearances for the Cityzens during a brief spell and won the FA Cup in the 2010-11 campaign.

His brother, Kevin-Prince played for a lot of clubs across Europe. He donned the colours of Tottenham, Portsmouth, AC Milan, Schalke 04, Frankfurt, Sassuolo, Fiorentina, among others.

He received the gold Fritz Walter Medal in 2006 for being the greatest U-19 player in Germany.

During his time at AC Milan, Kevin-Prince won both the Italian Serie A and the Supercoppa Italiana in 2011. He won the DFB-Pokal with Frankfurt in 2018 and the La Liga title in 2019 during his time at Barcelona.

Rafael and Fabio da Silva

Rafael and Fabio are identical twin brothers who began their careers at Fluminense. They were later recruited by Manchester United in February 2007.

Now 33, Fabio only made 22 appearances for the Red Devils in six years. He later played for Cardiff City, Middlesbrough and Nantes.

He won the Premier League with United in 2011. Rafael claimed the FA Community Shield with Sir Alex Ferguson’s team a year earlier.

Fabio’s twin, Rafael had a more prolific career. He made over 100 appearances each for Manchester United and Lyon.

Three Premier League titles, the league cup and the Club World Cup are good returns for the player who spent eight years at the Old Trafford outfit.

He later went on to feature for both Istanbul Basaksehir and Brazilian club Botafogo.

Gary and Phil Neville

Gary Neville is a popular English football broadcaster, coach, and former player. He currently shares ownership of Salford City in the English Football League.

Neville retired from playing active football in 2011. In 2015, he was appointed head coach at Spanish La Liga side Valencia CF. It was a disastrous managerial period for him.

Gary made over 400 total appearances for Manchester United between 1992 and 2011 (19 years). He was also capped by England 85 times.

When Gary retired, he had won 20 titles in total. Among those are eight English Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League trophies.

His brother Phil, who is two years younger, currently heads the coaching crew of Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers.

For Manchester United, Phil played more than 260 matches in 10 seasons. He helped United win six Premier League titles, three FA Cup crowns and the UEFA Champions League.

He later joined Everton and captained the side after David Weir left.

Thiago and Rafinha Alcantara

People are more familiar with Thiago Alcantara who has featured prominently for Bayern Munich and Liverpool.

However, there is his younger brother Rafinha Alcantara who currently plays for Qatar Stars League outfit Al-Arabi.

Rafinha, now 30, was a Barcelona player between 2011 and 2020. However, he spent most of that time on loan spells across Celta Vigo (two spells) and Inter Milan.

Joining PSG in 2022, he was briefly on loan at Real Sociedad before he eventually went to Qatar.

Rafinha featured for both Spain and Brazil at youth level. He later committed his allegiance to Brazil and made his debut for the senior national team in 2015. The midfielder won Gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Meanwhile, Thiago Alcantara is currently a professional midfielder for Liverpool and the Spanish national team.

Thiago played for Barcelona before joining Bayern with whom he made over 150 appearances.

He won one Champions League each with Barcelona (2010-11) and Bayern Munich (2019-20). After claiming four La Liga titles with the Catalans, he won seven Bundesliga titles at Bayern.

Thiago Alcantara is regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation.

Andre and Jordan Ayew

Andre Ayew and his brother Jordan Ayew are very popular brothers in the world of football.

Their father Abedi “Pele” Ayew is a three-time African Footballer of the Year and FIFA 100 member.

They both represent the Black Stars of Ghana at international level and have consistently played active football over the years.

Andre was best known for his productive long spell at French Ligue 1 club Olympique Marseille. He made 160 appearances for the club, scoring 44 goals.

He had two great spells at Welsh club Swansea City, making a combined total of over 130 caps. Andre also played for West Ham United and Nottingham Forest. His present club side is Le Havre.

He is Ghana’s national team captain and has made more than 110 appearances for the West African country. The versatile forward remarkably won the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup with the Black Starlets.

Jordan Ayew still thrives at Premier League club Crystal Palace. He, alongside Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze, remains the major attacking threats for the Eagles.

He was also a popular player who played over a century matches for Marseille. Jordan played for Lorient, Aston Villa and Swansea City before he joined Crystal Palace permanently following a loan spell.

Playing in his fifth season with Palace presently, Jordan won Ghana’s Player of the Year award in 2020.

While his brother Andre was on loan at Arles-Avignon, Jordan helped Marseille win the Ligue 1 trophy in 2020.