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A family affair

John Arne Riise has joined his brother at Fulham © Getty Images

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With John Arne Riise having joined brother Bjorn Helge Riise at Fulham, this week's First XI looks at some of the other brothers to have shared a team.

Leslie and Denis Compton (Arsenal)
Successful in both football and cricket, Leslie and Denis Compton played together for Arsenal in the former and Middlesex in the latter, and they both played their part in the 1950 FA Cup final victory over Liverpool.

Denis was renowned for his cricket exploits - he made 78 Test appearances for England - but he also played 14 times for Arsenal as they won the title in 1948 and contributed to the FA Cup success two years later. Injuries hampered his chances of greater success as a footballer, but he made a series of unofficial wartime appearances for his country and his football achievements would complement his significant success as a cricketer.

Leslie, a strong, physical centre-half, was the more successful footballer but, having become established as little more than a dependable wicket-keeper at Middlesex, his combined achievements were overshadowed by his sibling.

However, he made two international appearances as a footballer, becoming the oldest England debutant at the age of 38, two months and three days, and he later joked to the Guardian: "At least I won two real caps at soccer for England, which is more than my young Denis ever managed."

Fritz, Ottmar and Ludwig Walter (Kaiserslautern)
Fritz and Ottmar were the first brothers to play in a World Cup-winning team when West Germany beat Hungary in 1954, and in the 1948-49 season they were joined at Kaiserslautern by a third brother, Ludwig.

Their parents had worked at the club restaurant but, though their arrival at the club may appear fated, their mother had doubted her sons would make it at the top level. "I never thought my boys would become famous footballers," she said. "Fritz was always so weak as a child."

Ludwig was unable to make an impact as injuries restricted him to only a couple of appearances, but Fritz in particular remains among the most legendary players in German football history.

John and Mel Charles (Wales)
As the brother of John Charles, the legendary former Leeds United and Juventus star, Mel was, as he titled his autobiography, In the Shadow of a Giant, but his own achievements should not be overlooked. When Mel left Swansea to join Arsenal in 1959 for £40,000 plus two other players, the brothers were at the centre of the two most expensive transfers in British history.

Mel had been at Leeds United as a youngster while John was making his name at the club as a centre-half, but homesickness saw him return to Wales. There, he signed up with hometown club Swansea, and played alongside an outstanding array of talent from the area, including Ivor Allchurch, Terry Medwin and Cliff Jones. Former Wales striker Trevor Ford later said: "The 'Busby Babes' were a marvellous group but, in my opinion, these boys, all born in Swansea, were at least their equal."

Swansea, though, never achieved much, and Mel was forced to leave his home comforts in search of glory. There was talk that he could replace his homesick brother at Juventus, with John telling Mel: "You may not like the football in Italy, but it's the only place you can make a stack of money quickly and legally." Manchester United and Chelsea were also interested, but Mel eventually joined Arsenal and prepared for life in the Big Smoke. "Do they play darts in London?" he asked an Observer journalist before the move.

Mel suffered a torrid time with injuries at Arsenal and wrote in a Daily Express column in 1961: "You know what the fans said - 'Charles is finished', 'What a waste of money', 'He's injured again'. I heard it all, and it haunted me. All the time I lived in the shadow of brother John - or, as one fan put it, 'lived on his reputation'." He joined Cardiff on a free transfer in 1962.

Jack and Bobby Charlton (England)
World Cup winners with England in 1966, Jack and Bobby Charlton are two of the most successful siblings in the history of the sport.

Jack, the older brother, spent the entirety of his playing career with Leeds United and won the league and FA Cup under Don Revie, while Sir Bobby spent the bulk of his career at rivals Manchester United, where he won the league three times as well as the FA Cup and European Cup under Sir Matt Busby.

Though the brothers were close in their early playing days, they have played out a public feud in more recent times.

There are strong differences in personality - Jack outspoken and rebellious, Bobby quiet and assiduous - and the gap grew after Bobby's marriage to Norma in 1961. She was a strong-minded woman, and Jack felt she had been responsible for Bobby's failure to visit their mother, Cissie, before her death in March 1996.

"I asked him many times to visit her or, if he didn't want to do that, at least to phone or send a letter or card," Jack told the Daily Mail. "His reply was: 'I'll run my life the way I see it and I'll do what I want to do'. We've never been further apart than we are now. I don't want to know him."

Bobby Charlton tasted great success with Manchester United © Getty Images

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Bobby finally responded 11 years later when he told the Times: "There was a clash and it just never went away really. The conflict was brought out in the open when Jack came out in the newspapers saying things about my wife that were absolutely disgraceful. Nonsense.

"I am not going to ruin the rest of my life worrying about my brother and I've no doubt he is the same. If we see each other we will say hello. I am sorry it has happened but life goes on."

Justin and John Fashanu (Norwich City)
Born in London, John and Justin moved to Norfolk as young children after being taken in by a foster family in the area, and both signed on with Norwich at youth level. John, later a successful striker with Wimbledon, had not yet made his first-team debut when Justin left for Nottingham Forest in a £1 million deal in 1981 as a replacement for Trevor Francis.

It was to prove an ill-fated transfer, as manager Brian Clough learned of the striker's homosexuality. In his 1995 autobiography, Clough recounted an exchange with the player: "'Where do you go if you want a loaf of bread?' I asked him. 'A baker's, I suppose.' 'Where do you go if you want a leg of lamb?' 'A butcher's.' 'So why do you keep going to that bloody poofs' club?"

Fashanu was placed on the transfer list in February 1982, just six months after his arrival, and his career followed a downward trajectory. In 1990, he announced his homosexuality in a front-page Sun exclusive.

Black weekly newspaper The Voice described his decision to sell his story to The Sun as "an affront to the black community", "pathetic" and "unforgivable", and even John spoke to the paper in an article entitled 'My gay brother is an outcast'.

In 1998, after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old while living in the US, he committed suicide. He left a note insisting the sex had been consensual.

"We'd lost contact, we were just starting to get together again, because of course time heals," John said after his brother's suicide. "If he'd have come to me and said, 'Look, John, I'm gay' I'd have said, 'So what, Justin? I'm heterosexual. I like women. I'm not going to go and scream and shout about it. This is how you were made. No problem at all.'"

Michael and Brian Laudrup (Denmark)
Two of the finest players to have represented Denmark, both Laudrup brothers left their homeland after spells with Brondby and ended their careers with Ajax, but they only played together for the national team.

Michael - whose career took in spells with Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid - was considered the superior player, with former Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Rangers star Brian describing his older brother as "perhaps the most complete [attacking midfielder] there has ever been".

Even so, it was Brian who helped Denmark to success at Euro 1992 as Michael, having fallen out with coach Moller Nielsen, stayed home. Two years later, Brian's Milan thrashed Michael's Barca 4-0 in the 1994 Champions League final in Greece's Olympic Stadium, though neither was selected for the match. "I enjoyed it more than he did," Brian told ESPNsoccernet in 2010.

Erwin and Ronald Koeman (Groningen and Netherlands)
The sons of former Netherlands international Martin Koeman, Erwin and Ronald followed in their father's footsteps as they began their careers with his former club Groningen, and they played there together in the 1982-83 season.

The Koemans made their international debuts together in a 3-0 defeat to Sweden in 1983, and both made their final appearance in 1994, winning Euro 1988 together along the way.

However, they had very different personalities. Erwin, 18 months older, was considered the more talented, but Ronald had a fiercely competitive streak that marked him out for greater success.

"I was much fierier than Erwin," Ronald said in the biography Koeman en Koeman. "If we lost, Erwin shrugged his shoulders and thought, 'Next time we'll do better'. I felt sick, sulked and got angry."

Their father added: "Ronald was stiff, cumbersome and lazy as hell. People started questioning his talent because of that, but I always said: 'Watch him. Strange things would have to happen for him not to make it as well'."

Or as Erwin put it in an interview with Voetbal International in 1982: "I care about my fellow man - Ronald will just let them rot."

Danny, Rod and Ray Wallace (Southampton)
Southampton had three Wallace brothers in the team in the 1988-89 season, but it would not last long. Danny, who first appeared for the club in 1980, moved on to Manchester United in September 1989 after four transfer requests, and it seemed that agitating for a move ran in the family.

By that time, young twins Rod and Ray, who made their Saints debuts in 1988, were already planning to move on. Southampton placed the blame squarely on agent Bob Higgins - the club's former youth coach - when the duo submitted transfer requests on the same day in February 1990. In the end, they had to wait until their contracts expired in 1991 before they moved to Leeds United together.

Danny's form tailed off badly at Old Trafford as he began suffering with multiple sclerosis while Ray's career foundered, but Rod helped fire Leeds to the title in 1992. "Rod has taken over the family name in football," Danny told the Daily Express that year.

Rene and Willy van de Kerkhof (FC Twente, PSV and Netherlands)
Part of the Netherlands squads that reached the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals, the Van de Kerkhof twins were among the more successful sporting siblings.

The twins had become first-team regulars together at FC Twente under Kees Rijvers and, a year after he moved on to manage PSV, he went back to sign the duo for his new club. Their finest year was 1978 as they won the league title, Dutch Cup and UEFA Cup before both appearing as starters in the '78 World Cup final defeat to Argentina. It was also the year that the duo launched their music careers, with the single Laat me, als het effe kan. In 1979, they delivered a follow-up: Da hedde of da kredde (Maar kope kunde 't nie).

A third Van de Kerkhof brother, Gerard, played for one season at Sparta.

Ronald and Frank de Boer (Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al-Rayyan, Al-Shamal and Netherlands)
Born ten minutes apart, Ronald and Frank de Boer appeared almost inseparable throughout their careers. Though they spent years apart on occasion, the persistence of their union was remarkable.

They both rose to prominence with Ajax and played together in the 1995 Champions League final success over AC Milan; they took Ajax to court before joining Barcelona together in 1998; they had six months together at Rangers in 2004; and they both left for Qatari side Al-Rayyan after Euro 2004 before moving on to Al-Shamal the following year.

After retirement, Frank took on a coaching role with Ajax and has since taken over from Martin Jol as manager. Unsurprisingly, Ronald has now announced that he will be taking charge of the club's youth team. "I don't want this to be linked to Frank in that way," Ronald rather hopefully told Evers. "Maybe I'll follow in Frank's footsteps and end up as head coach, but first I want to see if I like it."

Gary and Phil Neville (Manchester United and England)
The Fergie Fledglings who filled the full-back berths took a while to fully establish themselves as separate entities. Sir Alex Ferguson had talked about the 'Neville boys' as something of a joint venture while, in 1998, they signed seven-year contracts on the same day. Jaap Stam did little to help distinguish the two by describing them as "a pair of busy little c**ts" in his autobiography.

Gary, though, gradually established himself as the more fervent of the two and Phil, after his move to Everton in 2005, became rather more popular among the general public, leading to this mock interview in 2009.

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