You may be in the know if you were in Demark. But not many around the world knew that the Danish super star, Ebbe Sand, has an identical twin brother, Peter. It’s said that fans used to chant after Peter, “You look like Ebbe Sand!” Sadly for Peter, while he may have shared Ebbe’s look, he did not match him in terms of talent or success.
In the world over, you may find pairs like Arveladze twins in Georgia or the Schelotto twins in Argentina… that don’t share commensurate football skills. So you often find one of the pair overshadowing the other in terms of success.
Perhaps, you may like to know five of the best pair of twins, past and present, that has some what equal football talent and enjoyed career success together.
 |
| Hassan Twins |
1. HASSAN TWINS: There are no twins like Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan of Egypt. Arguably, the world record holder for twins that enjoyed career success together.
Hossam and Ibrahim were together in every team they played – Al-Ahly, Al’Ain, SCC, and Zamalex. And they both played the attacking role for each team.
Together, they hold the world record of 294 caps for Egypt national team (Hossam 169, Ibrahim 125), and scored 81 goals (Hossam 69, Ibrahim 12).
They retired in 2008 and both became coach. Together, they managed Al Maesry and Zamalex teams and won CAF champions League 2009.
 |
| De Boer Twins |
2. DE BOER TWIN: Perhaps, the most famous pair of twins is Frank and Ronald de Boer. They played together at five clubs, Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al-Raygan and Al-shamel. Frank was a defender and Roland was a midfielder. However, Ronald won more trophies in Scotland
Together at Ajax, they won five Eredvisie titles and the Champions league. Then, they won the la liga at Barcelona. Together the twins have a combined 179 caps for Dutch national team (Frank 112, and Roland 67); and scored 26 goals (13 goals each.
Frank went on to football management after they retired, but Ronald went into something else.
 |
| Van de Kerkhof Twins |
3. VAN DE KERKHOF TWINS: Famously called the “Double Dutch.” Rene and willy van de Kerkhof were the PSV version of DE Boer in the generation before.
Together at PSV, the twins won three Eredvisie titles. And they had great success in 1978, when they also won the Dutch cup and UEFA cup as well as played in 1978 World cup finals.
 |
| Degen Twins |
They both played for FC Basel, where they won three league titles. They were also in the Switzerland national team with a combined 46 caps (Philipp 32, David 14). They were part of the Swiss team to 2006 World Cup, though only Philipp played.
 |
| Altintop Twins |
5. ALTINTOP TWINS: Halil and Hamit Altintop are Turkish twins still playing presently.
Hamit is presently enjoying a more successful career. He has played for Schlke, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid and scored 20 Bundesliga goals in 2005/6 season. He has also won FIFA Puskas award in 2010 for a stunning volley against Kazakhstan.
Together, they already have 10 caps in the Turkish national team (Hamit 68, Halil 37).
Just when we thought we may never see exciting pair of twins like the Hassans and DeBoer twins, new ones like Lars and Sven Bender from Germany or Fabio and Rafael da Silva from Brazil are showing great potential in Manchester united. Watch out for them.
