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The recent debut of Jonathan dos Santos, younger brother of former Barcelona midfielder Giovanni Dos Santos, inspired us to do this latest edition of the Factfile series. Not many cules know that there were  in fact quite a number of footballing siblings that have suited up in the famed blue-claret, an indication that perhaps  the fanciful notion of a Barça DNA could actually be rooted in fact. The Dos Santos brothers would only be the latest episode in this saga of what could be in a literal sense a Barça brotherhood. But there were others, lesser known to fans but of no less importance to the club they all played for, so we have decided to come up with a list ( in no particular order) of  players belonging to that most exclusive of circles, siblings who were also brothers in the shirt.

1 – Frank and Ronald De Boer. - The famed Dutch twins hold the distinction of having played together for three top flight European clubs- Ajax, FC Barcelona, and Glasgow Rangers. Frank  and Ronald were scouted for the Ajax youth system by Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. They came to Barcelona in 1998 and although impressive with Ajax, both failed to replicate their successes in Spain. Ronald had been a prolific goal-scoring midfielder in Ajax yet he managed to feature in only 33 games  and scoring only once for Barcelona. Frank, a centre back who had won the Champions League and UEFA Cup with Ajax, suffered the same fate and worse got himself suspended when he tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone.

2 – Gerard, Sergio, and Juli López Segú. – Sergi,a midfielder, had been regarded as the bright young hope of the Barça  academy but frequent injuries prevented him from realizing his full potential. Gerard, the youngest of the siblings , also a midfielder,  also began with the youth team. He left for Valencia at age 17 and with his precision passes and ball control skills quickly established himself as one of the top  midfielders in Spain.  After helping Valencia reached the finals of the Champions League in 2000, Gerard spurned many offers from some of Europe’s top clubs in order to return to his boyhood club Barcelona in a deal worth £15million.  He helped the team win the league title in 2004/05 but injuries soon affected his performance and after five seasons, he left the team to try his luck elsewhere.  Now 30 years old, he currently plays with Girona FC which he joined in 2009. His other brothers Sergi and Juli had less stellar carreers. Sergi the once the promising youngster had committed suicide at age 39.

3 – Genis, Oscar, and Roger García Junyent. – While eldest brother Genís only featured  in friendly matches with the team, Òscar and Roger played under Cruyff, Robson and Van Gaal,  three managers that brought a decade of  success to the club. The 6 ft 2 attacking midfielder Oscar was club top scorer for one season, netting 10 league goals although he started in only 11 out of 28 appearances. The other midfielder,  Roger, was less successful although he stayed with Barça the longest (13 seasons). He later joined Ajax and retired after one season due to injuries. He became the last player to wear jersey number 14 with Ajax, as it was later retired in honor of club legend Johan Cruyff.

4 – Llorenc and Joaquim “Quimet” Rifé. -  While Llorenc was more of a a fringe player with Barça , his brother Quimet played 527 matches over twelve seasons and is regarded as one of the best wingbacks in the club’s history. Quimet started out as a winger, became midfielder, and later established himself as a left back with great attacking abilities. He scored a total of 47 goals with his trademark runs along the entire length of the pitch. He formed part of the famed backline that included Antoni Torres and Salvador Sadurni who the club gave tribute to in 1979 as one of the best defenses in club history. Quimet was hired as a Barcelona trainer after his retirement , then later on promoted to  team manager (he managed the team for one season), and eventually became the club’s technical director. He founded the prestigious football academy Escola de Futbol TARR with his former Barcelona team mates Antoni Torres, Juan Manuel Asensi and Carles Rexach.

(Trivia: To present day Barca fans, Quimet Rife is perhaps best known for his involvement in the infamous Guruceta incident, one of the most controversial events in the history of Spanish football.  During the season 1969/70, Barcelona played Real Madrid in the semi finals of the Copa Del Generalissimo at the Camp Nou.  At that time, both teams were already out of contention in the league title race and had only the Copa honors to play for. Madrid had won the first leg 2-0 at the Bernabeu but by the end of the first half  of the return leg in Barcelona, they were trailing 1-0 and were playing poorly. Barcelona were threatening to score more after the re-start when Rife fouled Manolo Velasquez five feet outside the area. Referee Emilio Guruceta who was yards behind play quickly awarded a penalty to Madrid. The home fans erupted in anger at the call and Barca players led by Carlos Rexach  walked off the pitch in protest. They were later persuaded to come back to defuse the near riot situation. With 2 minutes to play however, irate Barcelona fans invaded the pitch and Guruceta and his assistants had to run to the dressing rooms to escape the angry mob. Barcelona was eventually eliminated and Real went on to defeat Valencia in the finals. )

5 – Ricardo “Calo” and  César Rodríguez. – Defender Ricardo played with Barcelona for many seasons but it was his striker brother Cesar who would become a certified blaugrana legend. César played 348 games and netted 235 times for the team, making him the highest league goalscorer in the history of the Catalan club. Only three players in La Liga history have scored more goals – Telma “Zarra” Montoya, Hugo Sánchez and Alfredo Di Stéfano. Cesar won five league titles with Barcelona and was part of the legendary forward line that included Estanislao Basora, Ladislao Kubala, Eduardo Manchón and Tomás Hernández Moreno,  the team responsible for winning five trophies in the 1951/52 season, dubbed as the “Season of Five Cups”.  César took up coaching after he retired and in 1963, he was appointed as manager of  Barcelona. They ended the season without a title and things went from bad to worse for him the following year when Barcelona suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat against Levante, a result that led to a fine of 25,000 pesetas to each player and 50,000 to Cesar, prompting him to resign.

Note: Barça brothers number 6 to 10 will be featured in our next installment of  The Factfile. Watch out for it.

Related posts:

1. The Factfile: Barcelona’s first league goal scorer
2. The Factfile Special: Carles Puyol’s ten years with Barça
3. Kolo Toure claims brother Yaya is unhappy in Barcelona
4. The Factfile: El Clásico trivia
5. Luis Suarez: “I always dreamed about Barca”