For decades, “family connections” became common in football clubs;

The brothers sometimes compete against each other at the international level, while other times they play for the same national team.

And there are many "relatives" - in the world of football - who have not been aroused in recent years.

The sports site "Sportyleagues" has chosen some of these stars that not many know of a relationship between them, including:

Messi and Bojan Krkic

The only great thing about both Lionel Messi and Bojan Krkic is that they played together for several years at Barcelona, ​​but the two players have more in common than just being teammates.

Messi and Bojan are actually cousins, albeit fourth cousins, where it all began in 1846 when Mariano and Teresa married in Catalonia and had children that included both players' grandparents.

More clearly, Messi's great-grandfather and Bojan's great-grandfather were brothers.

From being nicknamed 'THE NEW MESSI' to playing in the MLS at 29-years-old 😳 – What happened to Bojan Krkic?!#REWIND pic.twitter.com/5GI2wdS1bH

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 12, 2020

Ferlan and Edward Mindy

Once again, Verlaine and Edouard are cousins, but that's not the only thing they have in common, as they both spent considerable time at French club Le Havre during their formative years.

After Verlain completed his training at the French club, he became a professional and then moved to Olympique Lyonnais and then to Real Madrid, while Edward moved to Marseille and then Rennes, and then to the English Premier League with Chelsea last year 2020.

And fate put the two close in a direct confrontation, although they never played with each other as professionals, last May they competed together in the semi-finals of the Champions League, where Chelsea, led by Edward, managed to snatch the ticket to qualify for the final before winning the title against Manchester City in Porto.

Luka Modric and Marc Viduka

This may seem surprising to some;

But in fact, Modric and Viduka are distinguished players in their countries (Croatia and Australia) and are also related.

The first is considered to have a more brilliant football career than his relative, as he, with Real Madrid, managed to stop the dominance of the two world stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Golden Ball award for the best player in the world awarded by the French magazine "France Football", when he won it in the year 2018.

Viduka's father (Joe Viduka) was born in Croatia before immigrating to Australia in the 1960s;

Where the former Celtic and Leeds striker Mark was born.

The Australian international joined Celtic from Dinamo Zagreb, the same club where Modric started his football career.

FACT: Luka Modric and Mark Viduka are cousins.

One is Croatian, the other is Australian.

🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/m7Wa5jpG0J

— Sam Bayliss (@DailyBayliss) August 30, 2017

Karl, Leon Kurt and Ruben Loftus-Cheek

The Boateng brothers and Alcantara - and other footballers - are not the only siblings who have played internationally for different national teams, but also the Kurt brothers and their half-brother Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Karl and Lyon were born in England but chose to play for Guyana (their father's country). Together, they played in the Premier League with Wimbledon and Newcastle, while Lyon played two seasons with Stoke City and Burnley.

Emir Spahic and Edin Dzeko

The two Bosnia and Herzegovina players who have played the most in the national team are cousins.

Edin Dzeko is the historical top scorer for the Bosnian national team;

He scored 58 goals in 107 matches, while Spahic played 94 matches for the national team since his debut in 2003.

Both players have been instrumental in the impressive rise of their country in football in recent years, as the Bosnian national team qualified for their first ever major tournament in 2014 when they reached the World Cup finals in Brazil.