Europe's footballing brothers and sisters
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Article summary
Tomáš Necid's winter switch to Legia Warszawa means both he and his sister could feature in Europe this season; UEFA.com celebrates some top brother-sister acts.
Article top media content
Article body
Tomáš Necid's winter move from Bursaspor to Legia Warszawa means that both he and his sister, Simona Necidová, could potentially play UEFA club competition games this season.
A forward for Slavia Praha – where her big brother also started his career – 23-year-old Necidová featured in the UEFA Women's Champions League for a third successive campaign in 2016/17. Both she and her brother played in Europe in 2014/15 too – Necid for Zwolle, Necidová for Slavia – and the Czech internationals watch out for each other's results.
"I am really proud that she has been doing so well," Necid told UEFA.com. "We used to play together when we were kids, not only behind our house with the other kids but also at home – which did not make our parents very happy. I watch her games online and we write to each other about them."
The feeling is mutual, Necidova adding: "I admire his headers – I would love to do them as well as he does. People say we are alike, not just in terms of looks and character, but also the way we play."
Their situation is not a unique one. For the last three seasons, Manolo and Melania Gabbiadini have both been playing in Europe, with Napoli and Verona respectively, Manolo following in his sister's footsteps by playing for Italy at senior level.
Manolo counts his big sister as a formative influence, saying: "After watching her take a great shot, I decided I wanted to be as good as her." Melania believes there is more to it. "I think we have football in the blood," she said. "I would like to have his left foot. He has a great shot wit hhis, while my left foot is only for walking."
Elswehere in Italy, Riana Nainggolan joined her twin Radja at Roma in 2014, and said of her brother: "We kind of have the same style, only he is the male form and I am the female form, but if Radja was a girl too, I would be better!"
Other notable sporting brothers and sisters
Eniola & Sone Aluko
England and Chelsea forward Eni Aluko's younger brother Sone plays in England's second tier and has been capped by Nigeria.
Gianluigi, Guendolina and Veronica Buffon
The goalkeeper's older sisters both played volleyball for Italy, Guendolina winning a European club title with Matera.
Thibaut & Valerie Courtois
The Chelsea goalkeeper's older sister plays volleyball for Belgium.
Andrea & Nikola Gavrić
Both defenders, Andrea (15) and Nikola (19) are both playing club football at Bayern and represent Bosnia and Herzegovina at youth level.
Anna & Yannick Gerhardt
Capped for the first time for Germany in 2016, Wolfsburg's Yannick is not the only footballing Gerhardt – his little sister plays for Bayern.
Lisa & Lukas Klostermann
More potential senior internationals, Gevelsberg's Lisa plays for Germany's U19s, and Leipzig's Lukas is a men's U21 international.
Artem Milevskiy & Ksenia Milevskaya
The Belarusian-born former Ukraine striker's younger sister rose as high as 148th in the WTA tennis rankings but retired in 2013 aged 22.
Gary, Phil & Tracey Neville
While Gary and Phil shone for Manchester United, Phil's twin Tracey played netball for England, and is now national team coach.
Chiara & Louis Schaub
The Rapid Wien midfielder's younger sister is playing club football for Neulengbach and has represented Austria at youth level.
Marc & Marta Torrejón
Now at Freiburg, former Spain Under-21 international Marc Torrejón has been slighlty overshadowed by his younger sister, a Spain international who has won league titles with Espanyol and Barcelona.
Blanka & Nikola Vlašić
Promising Hajduk midfielder Nikola, 19, is the younger brother of Olympic medal-winning Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlašić.