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We signed the Brazilain twins Rafael and Fabio......
But I wondered if there were many twins that played together......
And yes there were.......
The recent England-Russia match had the Berezutsky twins playing together in
defence.
But the most famous twin brother combo were Frank and Ronald de Boer; one or
both played at Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al-Rayyan and Al-Shamal.
Internationally both had fearsome reputations, though Frank outshone his
minutes-older brother - his 112 caps, compared to Ronald's 67, briefly made him
the Netherlands' most-capped player before Edwin van der Sar passed him
Also in Holland were the Van der Kerkhof twins, René and Willy.
Both played at Twente Enschede and PSV Eindhoven, where they won the 1975,
1976 and 1978 championships, along with the 1978 Uefa Cup.
They were each named in the Netherlands' World Cup squad in 1974 too, though
only René played (including a role as sub in the final) but both of them started in
the 1978 World Cup final defeat against Argentina.
In total, Willy notched up 63 appearances for the national team compared to
René's 47. So impressed was Pelé by the pair, that he named both of them in his
top 125 greatest living footballers list in March 2004. Then again, he also
included El Hadji Diouf.
There was also Archil and Shota Arveladze, both Georgian internationals though
Shota's success at clubs like Rangers, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar has put his brother's
career at strugglers NAC Breda and Dinamo Tbilisi substantially in the shade.
Another twin who has enjoyed considerably more plaudits than his brother is
Thomas Ravelli. Thomas was considered the world's second-best keeper in 1994
and has 143 Swedish caps to his name, while Andreas was a defender with a
respectable 41 caps. But though Thomas is an A-list celebrity in Sweden, thanks
to two 1994 World Cup penalty saves and a handful of game-show appearances,
Andreas is more or less forgotten.
Elsewhere, Danish striker Ebbe Sand, whose career included 22 international
goals and successful stints at Brondby and Schalke from 1992 to 2006, has
managed to make twin brother Peter's lower-league livelihood (including a
season at Barnsley) look positively pedestrian.
In Argentina, twins Gustavo and Guillermo Barros Schelotto (born May 4 1973)
started their careers at Gimnasia de la Plata before both moving on to Boca
Juniors. From there Gustavo became something of a journeyman, playing for
seven clubs across Europe, Argentina and Peru. But Guillermo - aka El Mellizo
(the twin) - became a Boca legend, scoring 100 goals and winning numerous
domestic and international titles, not to mention earning 10 caps.
Zimbabwean team Chapungu United boasted twins Abel and Cain Mutenji who
were so identical they were forced to stick plasters on their faces so they could
identified.
In Germany, both Henning Furbach and Frenck Jochen are impressed by 1860
Munich's 18-year-old identical twins Lars and Sven Bender, while Bayern and
Schalke share Turkish twins Hamit and Halil Altintop, and Dortmund and FC Basel
boast Swiss twins Philipp and David Degen, respectively.
English football has had its fair share of twins too.
Dean and David Holdsworth both started at Watford in 1988, went their separate
ways, then temporarily rejoined at Bolton.
Identical twins Ricky and Shaun Allaway were on Reading's books in the late 90s
but neither making a first-team appearance.
West Brom academy graduates James and Adam Chambers are identical twins
who played at the World Youth Championships in 1998, where they became the
first twins to represent England at any level.
While twins Ray and Rod Wallace used to regularly line-up in the same 90s
Southampton team they've even both played alongside elder brother Danny.
Meanwhile, Ron and Paul Futcher used to play together at Luton in the 70s.
So no, it's not really too rare but hey - we got them and no one else did
But I wondered if there were many twins that played together......
And yes there were.......
The recent England-Russia match had the Berezutsky twins playing together in
defence.
But the most famous twin brother combo were Frank and Ronald de Boer; one or
both played at Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al-Rayyan and Al-Shamal.
Internationally both had fearsome reputations, though Frank outshone his
minutes-older brother - his 112 caps, compared to Ronald's 67, briefly made him
the Netherlands' most-capped player before Edwin van der Sar passed him
Also in Holland were the Van der Kerkhof twins, René and Willy.
Both played at Twente Enschede and PSV Eindhoven, where they won the 1975,
1976 and 1978 championships, along with the 1978 Uefa Cup.
They were each named in the Netherlands' World Cup squad in 1974 too, though
only René played (including a role as sub in the final) but both of them started in
the 1978 World Cup final defeat against Argentina.
In total, Willy notched up 63 appearances for the national team compared to
René's 47. So impressed was Pelé by the pair, that he named both of them in his
top 125 greatest living footballers list in March 2004. Then again, he also
included El Hadji Diouf.
There was also Archil and Shota Arveladze, both Georgian internationals though
Shota's success at clubs like Rangers, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar has put his brother's
career at strugglers NAC Breda and Dinamo Tbilisi substantially in the shade.
Another twin who has enjoyed considerably more plaudits than his brother is
Thomas Ravelli. Thomas was considered the world's second-best keeper in 1994
and has 143 Swedish caps to his name, while Andreas was a defender with a
respectable 41 caps. But though Thomas is an A-list celebrity in Sweden, thanks
to two 1994 World Cup penalty saves and a handful of game-show appearances,
Andreas is more or less forgotten.
Elsewhere, Danish striker Ebbe Sand, whose career included 22 international
goals and successful stints at Brondby and Schalke from 1992 to 2006, has
managed to make twin brother Peter's lower-league livelihood (including a
season at Barnsley) look positively pedestrian.
In Argentina, twins Gustavo and Guillermo Barros Schelotto (born May 4 1973)
started their careers at Gimnasia de la Plata before both moving on to Boca
Juniors. From there Gustavo became something of a journeyman, playing for
seven clubs across Europe, Argentina and Peru. But Guillermo - aka El Mellizo
(the twin) - became a Boca legend, scoring 100 goals and winning numerous
domestic and international titles, not to mention earning 10 caps.
Zimbabwean team Chapungu United boasted twins Abel and Cain Mutenji who
were so identical they were forced to stick plasters on their faces so they could
identified.
In Germany, both Henning Furbach and Frenck Jochen are impressed by 1860
Munich's 18-year-old identical twins Lars and Sven Bender, while Bayern and
Schalke share Turkish twins Hamit and Halil Altintop, and Dortmund and FC Basel
boast Swiss twins Philipp and David Degen, respectively.
English football has had its fair share of twins too.
Dean and David Holdsworth both started at Watford in 1988, went their separate
ways, then temporarily rejoined at Bolton.
Identical twins Ricky and Shaun Allaway were on Reading's books in the late 90s
but neither making a first-team appearance.
West Brom academy graduates James and Adam Chambers are identical twins
who played at the World Youth Championships in 1998, where they became the
first twins to represent England at any level.
While twins Ray and Rod Wallace used to regularly line-up in the same 90s
Southampton team they've even both played alongside elder brother Danny.
Meanwhile, Ron and Paul Futcher used to play together at Luton in the 70s.
So no, it's not really too rare but hey - we got them and no one else did
