Two Brothers, Two Countries: Dual National Siblings Who Faced Off | OneFootball

From brothers to adversaries, here are a few instances when siblings competed for separate national teams.

Last month’s Leagues Cup final was something of a soccer Rorschach Test. Look at it one way, and you wanted Lionel Messi to further cement his legacy as the GOAT and show that he’s still got the hunger and drive to win trophies here in North America. Shift your vision slightly and you wanted MLS stalwart and arguably its flagship club the Seattle Sounders to show that this league is competitive, and that it won’t just hand Messi and Friends a trophy on a silver platter. (Although, the Supporters’ Shield is technically just a silver platter.)

Fans of the latter camp came away with the last laugh as Seattle romped to a 3-0 victory that saw the sourest of sour grapes spit out (get it?) from a Miami side who perhaps felt that they were owed a major title. Where many thought they’d tune in to see Messi, Luis Suarez, and Rodrigo De Paul shine on maybe not the biggest, but a pretty darn big stage, the spotlight was stolen by two brothers who rose through the ranks of California youth soccer only to become MLS stars in their own right: Cristian and Alex Roldan.

The two brothers were raised in the Los Angeles area by their Salvadoran mother and Guatemalan father. By FIFA rules, they each were eligible to represent three different countries: the United States, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Cristian, the elder of the two, was a late bloomer in international soccer terms, as he only began representing the United States at the U-20 level before making his senior debut in 2017, playing the full 90 minutes against Martinique in the Gold Cup.

He would not appear again for the U.S. men’s national team until the next year’s January camp, but given what happened at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Trinidad and Tobago in the fall of 2017, perhaps he should have been called back up sooner.

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Alex, younger than Cristian by 13 months, never seemed to be in the plans for the United States. While his older brother was recruited to play college soccer at the more prestigious University of Washington, Alex plied his trade a few miles down the road at the lesser-known Seattle University, where he remained for four years rather than leaving early for the MLS Draft like his brother.

Guatemala took an interest in Alex and invited him to a training camp in May of 2021 to be potentially involved in World Cup qualifiers, but he turned them down. At the time, Guatemala hovered around 80 in the unofficial Elo Ranking system, and the Central Americans did not seem like real candidates for World Cup qualification.

All this makes Alex’s next move slightly more puzzling, as only a month later, he announced that he would be representing El Salvador in the 2022 qualifiers. This decision came in large part from the influence of then-El Salvador coach Hugo Perez, who placed immense emphasis on the recruitment of dual-nationals in order to raise the profile of Salvadoran soccer. Perez, interestingly, was born in El Salvador and went on to represent the United States at the senior level. Under Perez, a quarter of El Salvador’s roster would be American citizens born to Salvadoran parents, including some familiar MLS faces like LA Galaxy center back Eriq Zavaleta.

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The Roldans had a shining chance to feature against one another in World Cup Qualifying in September 2021 in San Salvador. Alex started at left wing for El Salvador, but Cristian looked to be locked on the bench with little hope of seeing the field. That is until Brenden Aaronson requested substitution, and in the 78th minute Cristian entered the pitch to help the USMNT see out a hard-fought 0-0 draw on the road in front of a feisty Salvadoran sellout. Their mother reportedly wore a half-U.S., half-Salvadoran jersey for the match, and claimed that she was praying for the game to end the way it did: as a tie.

Those 15-odd minutes would be the last time the two brothers would suit up against one another at the international level. Cristian would be an unused substitute in the USMNT’s home game against El Salvador that cycle, while Alex captained his squad to a 1-0 defeat in Columbus, Ohio.

The Roldans don’t seem likely to face off again anytime soon in international play. Alex made clear in March 2024 that he was resigning from El Salvador’s national team.

In a piece for MLSsoccer.com, Alex wrote extensively about his decision to represent El Salvador, referencing growing up watching El Salvador matches with his parents. But a more reasonable explanation of his decision can be found in this paragraph:

“Unlike Cristian, I was never approached by the U.S. And in that situation, I felt I could either wait until they called me — a call that might never come — or seize my opportunity to create my own path and be my own person.”

The through line of these stories of dual-national siblings is that, in almost all cases, one of the siblings is more talented, has a quicker ascent, or a higher profile than the other sibling. In this case, the gulf in quality between the two Roldans meant that one was in the mix for a highly competitive, well-funded soccer country from a relatively young age, and the other was, well, just short of that.

The World Cup and other high-profile international tournaments have assumed a mythologized status in the global soccer landscape. Affinity for one’s country takes a back seat to the ambition required to make it there, as evidenced by dual (or sometimes triple) national players making decisions about which country to represent based not on some halcyon ideal of which nation they feel more connected to, but which country is most likely to allow them to play regularly with the least amount of uncertainty and has the best odds of qualifying for the Big Time.

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Cristian’s decision was easy. The United States had the modern facilities, the shiny high-profile domestic league, and had qualified for each and every World Cup from 1990 up until 2017, the year he earned his first cap. He seemingly fell out of favor in the post-Berhalter milieu, but on the back of a dominant performance in the Leagues Cup final, Mauricio Pochettino added Roldan to the USMNT roster for September’s friendlies against South Korea and Japan. He started alongside Tyler Adams in midfield for the Japan game, acquitting himself well and sparking speculation that he might just be involved in next year’s World Cup squad.

Part of you has to feel for Alex. His older brother has a real chance at representing the nation of his birth, the host country to boot, at next year’s World Cup finals. Alex made what you might call a “business decision” in choosing to represent El Salvador, but in the end, it didn’t quite work out.

However, he did achieve something very few players have: captaining his national team. Ironically, the cycle for 2026 looks to be a far more inviting runway for the Salvadorans. Perhaps there is still time for Alex to make amends with the federation and make it to the World Cup finals in the country of his birth. El Salvador currently sit second in their qualifying group behind Suriname, with Panama and Guatemala bringing up the rear. Qualification is certainly not impossible, and having a Roldan on the pitch would give El Salvador a boost.

If La Azul y Blanco make it all the way to the dance, maybe for Alex Roldan, everything else was worth it.

Who are some other sets of brothers who have lined up against one another at the international level? And do they follow the same trajectory as the Roldans?

Granit and Taulant Xhaka, Switzerland/Albania

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Granit Xhaka, familiar to Arsenal fans as the subject of the old adage “if that had been Granit Xhaka,” is the younger and more successful of these two brothers.

The Xhakas form part of the Albanian diaspora that settled in Central and Western Europe following political unrest in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Their parents lived in Kosovo but were ethnically Albanian, and they managed to flee before the worst of the violence broke out in the region.

Both brothers rose through the youth ranks at FC Basel and represented Switzerland at various youth international levels. In 2011, Granit made his debut with the senior Swiss team at the age of 18. Meanwhile, his brother Taulant was still being called up by the Swiss U-21 team, with whom he only managed four appearances by 2013. In 2012, Granit got his big move from FC Basel to Borussia Monchengladbach in the German Bundesliga, but Taulant never managed to make a move away from the Swiss league.

Taulant, in a similar fashion to Alex Roldan, was left with a dilemma: could he wait around for the nation in which he was raised to maybe, someday give him the call, or would he be better off making the switch to his ancestral homeland, one that isn’t quite known as a football powerhouse?

Taulant opted for the latter, and even credits the encouragement of his younger brother as a contributing factor in deciding to make the switch. He would go on to make 31 appearances for Albania.

The Xhaka brothers finally got their head-to-head moment at EURO 2016, when Switzerland and Albania were drawn in the group stage. Their mother, much like Mrs. Roldan, wore a half-Swiss, half-Albanian shirt in the crowd. The Swiss eked out a 1-0 victory, thanks in large part to Albanian defender Lorik Cana getting sent off for a second yellow card in the 36th minute, and this would be the last time the Xhakas would battle it out on the international pitch. They would meet up in that season’s Champions League at the club level, however, with Granit’s Arsenal emerging victorious against Taulant’s FC Basel both home and away.

Thiago Alcantara and Rafinha, Spain/Brazil

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Thiago Alcantara and his younger brother Rafael, or “Rafinha,” were both born in Italy, and therefore would be eligible to represent three different national teams. Their father is former Brazil international Mazinho, who won the World Cup in 1994.

Thiago was the shining star of the two, although both had notable careers that included a shared stint at FC Barcelona. Thiago would go on to make 41 appearances for Spain over a 10-year period, representing his country at the 2018 World Cup and EURO 2020.

Rafinha, not to be confused with current Barcelona star Raphinha, represented Spain at youth level, but never figured in the plans for the senior team. In 2015, he was somewhat of a surprise call-up by Brazil coach Dunga, and he appeared in two friendlies against the United States and Costa Rica, even scoring a goal and providing an assist for Neymar against Los Ticos. Rafinha was also part of the 2016 Brazil Olympic squad that won a gold medal.

The brothers never got to play against one another at the international level, however. Perhaps their mom has a half-and-half jersey tucked away in the closet, just in case.

Jerome and Kevin-Prince Boateng, Germany/Ghana

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The original pair of brothers to have faced off at the international level, Jerome and Kevin-Prince grew up in West Berlin. They are actually half-brothers, sharing the same Ghanaian father but different German mothers.

By 2007, they both found their way into the Hertha Berlin first team. The ambitious older brother, Kevin-Prince, made a high-profile move to the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur, while Jerome traveled to the northwest to join Hamburg. Both were heavily involved in the German youth setup, but in 2007 Kevin-Prince would run afoul of the German soccer federation when he and some other teammates broke their curfew by staying out at a nightclub while in France for the Toulon Tournament. German U-21 coach Dieter Eilts immediately dismissed Boateng from the team. The incident even provoked a strong response from DFB President Marc Sammer, who stated: “A lack of discipline and a certain egotism can be discerned in Kevin-Prince.”

Jerome remained in the squad that would go on to win the U-21 European Championship that summer, and would make his senior debut for Germany in 2009. He made 76 appearances in a Germany kit, notably winning the World Cup in 2014.

The writing on the wall vis-a-vis his German international career, Kevin-Prince switched his allegiance to the country of his father. Ghana had made previous approaches for both Boateng brothers in the past, but each was firmly entrenched in the German youth system. At the time of the switch, Kevin-Prince claimed that something inside him “felt more Ghanaian,” but it’s hard to read this move as anything other than a calculated ploy to get to the World Cup. He made his debut for the Black Stars in a World Cup tune-up friendly against Latvia in June 2010.

The Boateng brothers finally made history on June 23, 2010 in Johannesburg, as they each started the Group D clash between Germany and Ghana. According to some reports, the brothers weren’t even on speaking terms at the time of this match, as Kevin-Prince injured German captain Michael Ballack with a particularly nasty tackle, forcing him out of the World Cup. (Ballack had slapped Boateng earlier in the match but hadn’t been punished for it.) Kevin-Prince played the full 90 minutes while Jerome was substituted after 72 minutes in Germany’s 1-0 victory, courtesy of a Mesut Ozil goal.

The Boatengs squared off again four years later in Group G at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza, Brazil. Each was subbed off shortly after halftime in a game that ended in an entertaining 2-2 draw.

We have no word as to whether or not the brothers were on speaking terms again, nor if any of their parents wore a half-and-half jersey to the game.

Nico and Iñaki Williams, Spain/Ghana

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The second most popular Williams siblings in global sports, the Williams brothers were born in Spain to Ghanaian parents from Accra. Iñaki originally hails from Bilbao, and his younger brother Nico was born in Pamplona eight years later. Owing to the age gap, the brothers didn’t exactly come up playing together, but it’s important to note that both were involved in Spain’s youth national team programs over the years. Iñaki scored three goals for the U-21s while Nico made nine appearances for the U-18s and U-21s before being called up by Luis Enrique to the full senior squad at the tender age of 19.

Iñaki moved to Athletic Bilbao at 20 and has never looked back, scoring 82 goals for the Basques spread over more than 300 appearances. Despite all his success for Athletic, he was only called up for Spain once for a major tournament, and even then it was on the provisional squad for EURO 2016. While he did play for Spain in a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, this match did not cap-tie him and he was eligible to file a one-time switch to represent Ghana.

Nico also came through the ranks at Athletic Bilbao, but his star was brighter than his older brother’s. He gained the attention of Spain manager Luis Enrique after strong showings in the 2021-22 season’s cup competitions, and was called into the side for the 2022 World Cup.

It doesn’t take Hercule Poirot to realize that the timing of Iñaki’s switch to Ghana coincides directly with his younger brother making a major leap on the international stage. Perhaps out of World Cup FOMO, Iñaki announced that he would make himself available for selection by Ghana in July of 2022. He would go on to start all three group stage games for the Black Stars, but failed to find the net for his new nation.

Nico, on the other hand, played all four of Spain’s games in Qatar, and broke out as a bonafide star in Spain’s run to the EURO 2024 title.

With Ghana and Spain not crossing paths in Qatar, the Williams brothers still haven’t appeared against one another at the international level. But there’s still time. Both will likely be in North America in 2026, so we’ll keep an eye out for any Ghana/Spain half-and-half kits.