Brothers United Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charlton

The Charlton brothers both joined their respective clubs aged 15, and both had a spell at other occupations before signing a professional contract. Bobby began an apprenticeship as an electrical engineer, while Jack followed in their father's footsteps and worked in the coal mines.
Their talent was evident however and soon both were established first team members, with Jack playing 629 games for Leeds between 1952 and 1973 while Bobby played 606 games for Manchester United between 1956 and 1973 before ending his top flight career with Preston North End, for whom he turned out 38 times.
Between them, they played 141 times for England and while Bobby may have had the more successful England career with 106 of those 141 caps, Jack had the more successful international career, spending ten years, between 1986 and 1996 as manager of Republic of Ireland, losing only 30 of the 93 games in which he led the team.

Extended Family Fact - Bobby and Jack's uncles include Leeds United players Jack Milburn, George Milburn and Jim Milburn; Rochdale great, Stan Milburn; and Newcastle United legend, "Wor" Jackie Milburn.

Answer: Jonathan and Giovani dos Santos

The dos Santos brothers began their careers with the Barcelona youth team, both progressing through the ranks to the Barcelona B team and eventually playing for the first team, although by the time Jonathan made it to the first team in 2009, Giovani had already left the club and was playing for Tottenham Hotspur in England.
After playing for clubs in England, Turkey and Spain, Giovani joined Villarreal in 2013 and a year later was joined by younger brother Jonathan. After a year of playing together, Giovani moved again, this time to LA Galaxy in USA, where in 2017, he was once again joined by Jonathan.
The brothers made their first appearance in the same Mexican national team in 2010, when they beat New Zealand 2-0 in a friendly.

Extended Family Fact - Giovani and Jonathan's father is Brazilian former footballer, Geraldo Francisco dos Santos, better known as Zizinho, who played for Leon and Necaxa in the Mexican top flight as well as Los Angeles Lazers in the Major Indoor Soccer League in USA.

Answer: Rod

Striker Rod and full back Ray began their careers at Southampton, where Rod was the more successful of the pair, making 128 appearances compared to Ray's 35. In 1991, the pair moved to Leeds United in a joint deal. Rod became an instant hit and made 212 appearances between 1991 and 1998, while Ray struggled to break into the first team, making just seven appearances and being loaned out to Swansea City and Reading before being sold to Stoke City in 1994.

Extended Family Fact - Rod and Ray have an older bother, Danny, who played for Southampton between 1980 and 1989. On 22nd October 1988, all three brothers were in the Southampton starting line up, the first time three brothers had played in the same team in the Football League First Division since Jacky, William and George Carr played for Middlesbrough in 1920.

Answer: Ronald and Erwin Koeman

The Koeman brothers played together briefly at Groningen when Ronald, who was with the club between 1980 and 1983 was joined by Erwin in 1982. Other than international games for the Dutch side, that was the only time the boys played together though. Erwin was at PSV between 1979 and 1982 then again from 1990 to 1994, while Ronald played for them between 1986 and 1989. Ronald can boast of more Eredivisie titles than his brother, winning four (with Ajax in 1984-85 and with PSV in 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1988-89), compared to Erwin's two, both with PSV in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons.

Extended Family Fact - Ronald and Erwin's father, Martin, also played for Groningen, spending time there between 1971 and 1973. He was also capped by the Dutch national team, but while Ronald managed 78 caps and Erwin got 31, Martin had just a single cap, awarded against Austria in 1964.

Answer: West Ham United and Queens Park Rangers

Both Rio and Anton started their careers at West Ham United, although by the time Anton broke through to the first team in 2003, elder brother Rio had moved to Leeds United. Rio's career then took him to Manchester United and finally QPR in 2014, where Anton had played between 2011 and 2013.

Extended Family Fact - The cousin of Rio and Anton is Les Ferdinand, who played for Queens Park Rangers between 1987 and 1995 and West Ham United in 2000.

Answer: Phil

This was a close run thing between the pair. Gary played a total of 602 games between 1992 and 2011, scoring five league goals and two in European competition for a total of seven. Phil only played for Manchester United between 1994 and 2005, and managed five league goals and two European goals, the same as his brother, but also scored an FA Cup goal against West Ham United in 2003, to take his tally to eight and beat his brother.

Extended Family Fact - Phil and Gary's sister Tracey has also represented England, winning 81 caps with the national netball team. Following her retirement from playing, she went on to coach the team between 2015 and 2019, steering the team to gold medals in the European Netball Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Answer: The Hazard Brothers

Eden was the first Hazard brother to arrive at Chelsea, signing in June 2012 from Lille in France and he was quickly followed in July 2012 by brother Thorgan, bought from Lens, also in France.
Younger brother Kylian didn't arrive until 2017 by which time Thorgan had moved on and found success with German side Borussia Mönchengladbach. Eden was still at Chelsea though and had already won the Premier League title twice as well as a UEFA Europa League with the club.
Both Eden and Kylian left Chelsea in 2019, Kylian moving on to Belgian side, Cercle Brugge without having played for Chelsea, while Eden went to Real Madrid after having scored 110 goals in the blue of Chelsea.

Extended Family Fact - Carine, mother to the Hazard boys was a striker who played for Manage in the Belgian First Division. She was forced to give up the game when she was three months pregnant with Eden.

Answer: Brazil

Thiago was born in Italy to a Brazilian father and raised in Spain, so could have represented any of the three nations internationally, but was always adamant he was going to play for Spain and made his debut for them against Italy in a friendly in 2011.
Brother Rafael, better known as Rafinha was born two years after Thiago, in Sao Paulo, Brazil and raised in Spain. As a youth player with Barcelona, he played international football for Spain at under 16, under 17 and under 19 level, before switching his allegiance to Brazil at U20 level. Rafinha made his senior debut for the Brazilian team in 2015, in a friendly against Costa Rica.

Extended Family Fact - The father of Thiago and Rafinha is Mazinho, who played as midfielder for Italian sides Lecce and Fiorentina as well as Spanish clubs, Valencia and Celta Vigo. He was also a member of the Brazilian World Cup winning side that beat Italy on penalties to lift the trophy in 1994.

Answer: Michael

During a glittering playing career, Brian Laudrup won the Danish first division title with Brondby, the DFL Supercup with Bayern Munich, Serie A and the UEFA Champions League with AC Milan, as well as the Scottish premier division title with Rangers and the UEFA Super Cup with Chelsea.
Brother, Michael won Serie A with Juventus, La Liga with Real Madrid and the Eredivisie with Ajax, as well as four La Liga titles, a European Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and a Copa del Rey with Barcelona.
So where does the English League Cup fit in to this? When his playing career was over, Brian moved into TV punditry, while Michael moved into management. He won the Danish Superliga with Brondby, the Qatar Stars League with Lekhwiya and the English League Cup while manager of Swansea City, when in 2012-13, they defeated Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Chelsea en route to the final in which they triumphed 5-0 over Bradford City.

Extended Family Fact - The father of Brian and Michael is Finn Laudrup, a striker who had success with Wiener Sport-Club of Austria as well as Danish club, Bronshoj. Finn also represented Denmark 19 times in international matches, scoring six goals.

Answer: Marseille (France)

Both Jordan and Andre were born in France to Ghanaian parents and both began their playing careers at Marseille, Andre in 2007 and Jordan in 2009.
In 2008, Andre spent a season on loan at Lorient while Jordan moved there in 2014 for a season before moving on to Aston Villa and then Swansea in 2017. Swansea was the club that Andre had played for in the 2015-16 season before moving to West Ham United for a spell.
The brothers were finally reunited in 2018 when Andre moved back to Swansea, but the reunion was short lived as later that same season, Andre was loaned to Fenerbahce of Turkey, while in 2019, Jordan moved to Crystal Palace.

Extended Family Fact - Andre and Jordan are the sons of a player regarded by many as one of the greatest African players ever, Abedi Pele. Like his sons, he spent time at Marseille, playing there between 1987 and 1993, scoring 23 league goals in the process and winning Ligue 1 twice.
He also had the honour of being voted African Footballer of the Year for three consecutive years between 1991 and 1993.