6 football family ties you didn't know about including Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Roy Keane - The Mirror

Taylor Harwood-Bellis is unlikely to be on the receiving end of one of Roy Keane's famous rants thanks to his family ties - and the Southampton defender isn't the only footballer with family in the game

For some, football is a family affair.

The history of the sport is littered with examples of siblings playing alongside each other – and against each other. Neville, Koeman, Laudrup, Charlton and Toure are just some of the names which immediately conjure up images of great footballing brothers, but there are some lesser known links out there.

It’s not just about brother-brother and father-son connections, there are some footballers joined together by marriage. Some have looser blood ties – and some only found each other through football.

Football is a great uniting force and here Mirror Sport takes a look over some of the more intriguing family connections out there.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Roy Keane

When Southampton defender Harwood-Bellis was called up for the senior England squad, he might not have been expecting the line of questioning in the press conference. The 22-year-old centre-back is engaged to Leah – the daughter of legendary Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane.

Asked about having Keane as his future father-in-law, Harwood-Bellis said: “Yeah, it’s something that is good and I take a lot of advice.” He hasn’t bothered him recently, though.

"No, everything is focused on Greece at the minute,” Harwood-Bellis replied when asked if he’d asked Keane about what could be his England debut on Sunday. "It's a big game after the result at home. Obviously, we want to go over there and get a result.”

Georginio Wijnaldum and Rajiv van la Parra

The two Dutchmen have both played in the Premier League but didn’t know of each other’s existence until a youth football match in Rotterdam.

“I knew I had another brother, but I never saw him until that moment. I never saw pictures because at that time you didn’t have the internet or social media. There was no Instagram or Facebook or anything,” former Liverpool midfielder Wijnaldum told The Times in 2018.

“She (mum) came to me and told me he was Rajiv. In the beginning I didn’t speak. I was looking at him. But I was also happy because I could finally see him. I went to play a game, but I found my brother.”

Lomana and Kazenga Lua Lua and Yannick Bolasie

The trio of former Premier League stars all hail from the Democratic Republic of Congo and are all related. Lomana – he of Portsmouth and the legendary celebrations – and Kazenga – he of seven years at Brighton – are brothers separated by 10 years.

They are both cousins of Bolasie, the tricky winger who has a fantastic back catalogue of tricks and skills from his glory days at Crystal Palace and now finds himself playing in Brazil at the age of 35.

Boudewijn Zenden and John Heitinga

The two former Netherlands internationals are brothers-in-law after Zenden's sister Charlotte-Sophie married Heitinga, who is now a member of Arne Slot’s coaching staff at Liverpool, despite having played for Everton.

"I'm not sure whether many people in the UK know the link between John and myself... obviously everyone in Holland knows,” Zenden said earlier this year. “It's funny how our careers went, when you look at our relationship today; I played for Liverpool, he went to Everton, he started off at Ajax, I started off at PSV. We did play together in the Euros in 2004, and that's when my sister and him first met up, and they've been together ever since."

James Rodriguez and David Ospina

Together the duo are two of Colombia’s most famous exports. Ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Ospina is Colombia’s most capped player, while ex-Real Madrid and Everton playmaker Rodriguez comes in at number four on the list.

They are tied together by more than the national team because Rodriguez married Ospina’s sister Daniela in 2011. The couple had a daughter named Salome in 2013 before splitting up in 2017.

Luka Modric and Mark Viduka

Their playing careers only crossed over for seven years, but they did in fact both play the 2008/09 season in the Premier League, Modric during his first campaign at Tottenham and Viduka during his last at Newcastle before retirement.

Despite being brought up on the other side of the world from each other, they are cousins. Viduka's father Joe left Croatia to move to Australia in the 1960s and is first cousins with Modric's father Stipe.

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