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Relatives of Famous Players
Topic Started: Aug 18 2007, 11:43 PM (2,192 Views)
rosarino
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Good one about the Koeman brothers valenciano. Funny how some brother or father-son combinations which appear so obvious we've all forgotten about here. This is another one which I can't believe I didn't mention before since they each have a Newell's connection. Sergio Almiron the father, full name Sergio Omar Almiron, was a Newell's forward who was a sub on Argentina's 1986 World Cup championship team (although Almiron never played at Mexico 86). His son also named Sergio Almiron, full name Sergio Bernardo Almiron, is a defensive midfielder who started off at Newell's before heading to Italy where he played for Udinese and Empoli before last summer earning a big transfer to Juventus. Unfortunately Claudio Ranieri doesn't rate him much and he rarely plays with Juve. The elder Almiron is a youth coach with Newell's now.

A recent Newell's acquisition, Uruguayan defensive midfielder Diego Scotti is the brother of Uruguay's international centerback Andres Scotti who plays with Argentinos Juniors.

I'm thinking there are more family connections out there that we're missing and once somebody comes up with them, we'll all be hitting ourselves and wondering how we could have forgotten them! :lol:
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badgerboy
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One or two for the future - just possibly...

Roberto Mancini's 17-year-old don Filippo has recently signed for Manchester City.

Arsenal have the Hoyte brothers - Justin & Gavin. They might both struggle to make it as first team regulars at Highbury but that doesn't mean they wont have decent professional careers somewhere.

Aston Villa also have a couple of brothers - twins in fact - in their reserves. Yago & Damian Bellon from Switzerland are just 18.

Kazenga LuaLua - brother of Lomana - made his Newcastle debut on 6 January.

Of the youngsters there is also Tobias Lineker - son of Gary - he's apparently been signed by Chelsea - but he is only 11 so has a way to go yet before he signs professional forms!

A bit more senior. Did anyone mention the De Boer brothers? I'm sure they did - but Frank & Ronald have 179 caps between them.

I got this (the Caps bit) from a little bit of google & "The Knowledge" in the Guardian.

They had a couple of pieces on "most capped brothers" with the top three turning out to be:

Hossam & Ibrahim Hassan (Egypt) 288
Brian & Michael Laudrup (Denmark) 186
Thomas & Andreas Ravelli (Sweden) 184

Back in 2004 the Guardian also did a piece on the most brothers from one family playing professional football. The Keetley's (9 allegedly) & the Jones's (5 + 3 of their sons) are perhaps pretty obscure but I didn't know that the great Bill Shankly also had four brothers who played the game. Here's the article
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badgerboy
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And adding a few brothers from the ACN.

Richard Kingson & Laryea Kingston - despite the different surname spellings.
Bakari & Arouna Kone
Salomon & Bonaventure Kalou
Kolo & Yaya Toure
Fadel & Abdelkader Keita
Rigobert & Alexandre Song (uncle & nephew)

I also found this on the Wiki which might take away some of the fun but is also a good memory jogger - as well as containing quite a lot I didn't know in the first place.

Some that jump out at me from that list that I don't think have been mentioned before:

Aurelio & Tony Vidmar (Aussie brothers)

Rafael & Fabio (Brazilian twins from the recent U17 World Cup who have apparently been signed by Manchester United).

Robert & Niko Kovac (Croatian veterans with over 70 caps apiece).

Niclas & Daniel Jensen (Danish brothers. Niclas is back in Denmark after spells in England & Germany while Daniel is currently with Werder Bremen).

Rio & Anton Ferdinand

Frank Lampard's dad (same name) was a West Ham legend & I'd forgotten that Jamie Redknapp is the current Frank's cousin.

Uli & Dieter Hoeness - both incredibly successful with Bayern Munich as well as the German national team.

Filippo & Simone Inzaghi. Although one is quite a bit better than the other.

Jackie & Danny Blanchflower. Both Northern Ireland internationals - Jackie played for Manchester United but his career was ended at the age of 24 by the Munich Air disaster - in which he was seriously injured. Danny played in Tottenham's double winning side of 1961.

Cha Bum-kun & Cha Do-Ri - South Korea. OK - this might not have immediately leapt out had I not accidentally come across another article on the subject. Cha Bum-Kun was one of Korea's greatest ever players - spending most of his career in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt (where he won the UEFA Cup) & Bayer Leverkusen in days before foreign imports were so common. He played in the 1986 World Cup Finals & was voted Asia's player of the century by the IFFHS. His son's career has not been quite so successful (he's currently playing for Koblenz) - but he did play as a substitute in the 2002 World Cup.

Hakan & Murat Yakin - Swiss internationals of Turkish descent.
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Nkono
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Great list badgerboy, I'll add a couple more with a Cameroon influence besides the already mentioned Rigobert (uncle) and Alex (nephew) Song who are currently playing with Cameroon's national team.

Achille Emana of Toulouse who is another current Cameroon national teamer is the son of Rene Emana who played for Cameroon in the 1970's and early 80's but never made it to a World Cup. Achille Emana's uncle Tobie Mimboe, a central defender, was another member of Cameroon's national team.

Geremi Njitap's father Samuel played for the Indomitable Lions in the 1970's while left sided midfielder and current member of Cameroon's U23 team Alain Junior Olle Olle of Nacional in Uruguay is the son of Bertin Olle Olle who played forward for Cameroon in the 1980s.

Alphonse Tchami who was a forward on Cameroon's 1998 World Cup team had a brother Joel Tchami who also played professionally primarily in France.

But perhaps the most famous family ties is Francois Omam Biyick, the center forward who soared to score the goal which beat defending champions Argentina in the opening game of the 1990 World Cup, played on the Indomitable Lions alongside his brother Andre Kana Biyick who was a midfielder. Andre Kana Biyick's son Jean Armel Kana Biyick by the way is on Le Havre's youth team in France.

Finally Jacques Songo'o the golakeeper for Cameroon and most notably Deportivo la Coruna has a son Franck Songo'o who is a 20 year old reserve midfielder for Portsmouth in England.

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Merengue
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I also posted this in the "today in football history" thread where we were discussing dual sport athletes. I couldn't recall any from Spain but it got me to thinking about some families who had memebrs playing professionally in two sports and I thought I'd post those here.

The Llorente brothers were the nephews of Francisco (Paco) Gento, quite possibly the greatest Spanish footballer of all time and a Real Madrid teammate of DiStefano and Puskas. His nephews Jose Luis and Antonio Llorente were basketball players with Jose Luis being a long time star for Real Madrid and the Spanish national team (and a 1984 Olympic Silver medallist for Spain in basketball). The younger set of brothers Francisco (Paco) and Julio Llorente were footballers, with Real Madrid for Paco and Tenerife for Julio being their primary clubs. I recall that Paco Llorente was recruited to play in Real Madrid's basketball team but he instead opted to play football. But like their uncle Francisco Gento who was one of the fastest players in his days, the Llorente brothers were all known for their speed.

Then there's also the current world's #2 in tennis Rafael Nadal whose uncle Miguel Angel Nadal was a centerback for Spain in the 1990's who played with both Barcelona and Mallorca.

There is another football-tennis family tie in Spain as the French international and current Sevilla centerback Julien Escude is the younger brother of ex professional tennis player Nicolas Escude.
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Simon
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I was surprised when I first heard that Rafael Nadal is the nephew of Miguel Angel Nadal. I was even more surprised when I read that Rafael supports Real Madrid!
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Martin
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Simon,Feb 18 2008
01:27 PM
I was surprised when I first heard that Rafael Nadal is the nephew of Miguel Angel Nadal. I was even more surprised when I read that Rafael supports Real Madrid!

That is because Rafael is a smart guy! :lol:

Here is another football-tennis family connection, the recently retired women's star tennis player from Belgium Kim Clijsters is the daughter of Leo Clijsters who was a sweeper on Belgium's 1986 World Cup semifinalist team. I think I also recall reading somewhere that Kim Clijster's mother was a gymnast.

rosarino is right there are some names on here that people have provided which just make us think, "I knew that but why didn't I remember it in time to write it down here?" Merengue's bringing up of the Llorente brothers and their legendary uncle Paco Gento is a great example of that. As is badgerboy's examples of the Kovac, Inzaghi and Hoeness brothers.

To nkono's list of Cameroon family ties, I'd add Samuel Eto'o and his younger brother David who I think last was playing for Metallist Donetsk in Ukraine. He's kind of the Hugo Maradona to Samuel's Diego Maradona!
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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raconteur
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I wanted to revive this old thread, one to thank Martin for the post about Leo Clijsters and his daughter Kim. I had not known about that connection but remember Leo from the 1986 World Cup. His daughter was known as not only being a star tennis player but also for being one of the genuinely nicest players on the women's tour. It is good to see the child of a star can still remain humble.

Secondly, I wanted to post this story I read online about a father-son combination which I think makes a great story,

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-...uters&type=lgns

Quote:
 
The Peruvian championship witnessed a rare moment on Sunday when Juan Carlos Bazalar and his son Alonso both played in midfield for Cienciano against Juan Aurich.

The two played the full 90 minutes as Cienciano came from 2-0 behind to win 3-2.

Juan Carlos Bazalar, 40, has played at several of Peru’s top teams and made a handful of appearances for the national side.

Alonso, 18, is a former under-17 international regarded as one of the country’s brightest prospects and already attracting interest from European clubs.

His debut had been delayed because of problems involving the paperwork over a move from Alianza Lima.

“It’s a dream come true,” the senior Bazalar told reporters before kickoff.


As a father I can imagine the pride Juan Carlos Bazalar must have felt.


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Simon
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"Hmm, these 40 year-old limbs didn't ache this much when I was 20. I've had a long career, in fact a few of our new signings are young enough to be my ... oh wait" :D

That's a great story, and Im sure I've read of another instance in which a father and son played alongside each other. For the life of me I can't remember when or where, in England perhaps?
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Martin
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That is a great story about Bazalar and his son. When I lived in Los Angeles I used to play in a pickup game with this father and son who curiously also was from Peru. I even felt good playing along with them as the father would give his teenage son tips before and occasionally during the course of the game. To be honest I was very jelaous of this father who had the opportunity to still be able to play along with his son. But to do it at the professional level like the Bazalars did is wonderful.

Like Simon, I seem to recall this happening somewhere else but can't recall. Hopefully putting our collective minds together we can come up with an answer.

Speaking of Peruvian father-son combinations, Johan Sotil of Juan Galvez FC in Peru is the son of Hugo Sotil, one of the greats of Peruvian football a star on their 1970 World Cup quarterfinalist team and because of injuries a sub on their 1978 quarterfinalist team but a champion with Barcelona playing alongside Johan Cruyff. Come to think of it I wonder if Hugo Sotil named his son after his former Barcelona teammate? Hugo Sotil was a sort of Peruvian George Best, an incredible dribbler whose career was cut short because of alcoholism. In fact because he would miss practices due to drinking, the club's coach Rinus Michels eventually signed Johan Neeskens at Barcelona to take Sotil's foreign player spot even though Sotil was a key figure at the club. His son Johan began his career as a promising player with Universitario but has never quite developed and bounced around various clubs to where he know plays for a modest Peruvian team.

And finally on the subject of Johan Cruyff, I heard an interview a few weeks back with Jordi Cruyff, Johan's son who once played for Barcelona and Manchester United. After being in semi retirement for several seasons and recovering from a series of knee injuries, Jordi now plays for Metallurg Donetsk in Ukraine (where he's a teammate of David Eto'o, Samuel's brother discussed above by Nkono). No longer a winger, Jordi now plays as a sweeper.
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hobbes
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I believe Eidur Gudjohnsen played with his father, but according to wikipedia, they were actually subbed for each other in an international!
Saskatchewan for the CPL: multis e gentibus vires
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Simon
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hobbes,May 26 2008
04:12 PM
I believe Eidur Gudjohnsen played with his father, but according to wikipedia, they were actually subbed for each other in an international!

Now that's interesting, as I had it in my head that the father/son combination I was thinking of were subbed for each other. Maybe the Gudjohnsens are who I was thinking of?

And Jordi Cruyff playing as a sweeper in the Ukraine? I've definitely heard it all now!
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Martin
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Good one about the Gudjohnsens, now that I think of it I seem to recall reading about 8-10 years ago about a Finnish player with a Russian name and his son who were both professionals. Unfortunately I can't recall their name nor if they actually played together or were just professionals at the same time.

Simon, in the interview I heard with Jordi Cruyff on Spain's Cadena Ser, he said he had received offers from some western European clubs but was happy remaining in Ukraine as the wear and tear on the body was less there!
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Martin
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Here is an uncle-nephew relationship we had not previously discussed. I only learned about it after reading Supereagle's post about Uruguay's 1930 World Cup winner Jose Andrade. His nephew Victor Rodriguez Andrade also was a World Cup winner with Uruguay in 1950! Here is an article in Spanish from Spain's Don Balon centered more on the nephew,

http://www.donbalon.com/front/default.asp?OPT=RER&RERID=1808
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Martin
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I mention this in the Brazil national team thread but for the first time in Brazil's national team history they have a pair of brothers in the same squad for an official game, the World Cup qualifying game versus Chile. The brothers are Luisao of Benfica (the older of the two) and Hamburg's new signing Alex Silva. What is more is both brothers are central defenders and with normal starter Lucio questionable for the game, the brothers might be competing for a starting slot!
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