Bundesliga brothers: El Mala, Bellingham, Schlotterbeck, Götze, Kroos and more
When Saïd El Mala scored from a Malek El Mala assist on Matchday 9 of 2026/27, it made them the first pair of brothers to combine for a goal in the Bundesliga since Hamit and Halil Altintop in 2006. The Cologne duo are the latest pair of siblings to feature in the German top flight, joining an ever-increasing list that includes the Bellinghams, the Schlotterbecks, the Götzes, the Krooses and more going back over 60 years.
Saïd has been making waves at Cologne since the start of 2025/26, ending that campaign as their leading scorer with 13 goals. He has since made his debut for Jürgen Klopp's Germany and clearly has a big future ahead of him aged just 20.
Malek, 21, also joined the Billy Goats in the summer of 2025, but has had to bide his time for a maiden senior appearance for the club. However, when his opportunity arrived against Union Berlin, he grasped it with both hands, scoring within minutes of coming on.
It was a proud moment for the family, with the siblings becoming the first pair of brothers at Cologne since Klaus and Thomas Allofs some four decades ago in 1986/87. And they only went and stepped up the brotherly bond even more by combining for a goal in the derby against Bayer Leverkusen the following week.
Watch: Malek assists Saïd against Leverkusen
We take a look at other famous Bundesliga brothers...
Jude (92 appearances) and Jobe (41*) Bellingham
Jude Bellingham gained his reputation as a midfield maestro during a stunning three-year spell at Borussia Dortmund between 2020 and 2023. In 2025, Jobe emulated his big brother by also swapping England for the Black and Yellows.
Having found his feet over 32 Bundesliga appearances in his first season in Germany, Jobe then established himself as a key part of the BVB midfield in 2026/27, also earning a first senior England call-up from Thomas Tuchel, joining Jude in the Three Lions' squad.
Watch: Jobe reacts to England call-up
Nico (184*) and Keven (152) Schlotterbeck
The burly defensive brothers both emerged at Freiburg before going their separate footballing ways.
Keven, the elder sibling, joined Augsburg in 2024 after several loan spells and had a particularly memorable moment in the 2025/26 season when he captained his side against a Dortmund team skippered by Nico.
He then left Germany for Southampton in summer 2026 shortly after Nico represented his country at the 2026 World Cup.
Watch: The Schlotterbeck brothers meet as captains
Mario (344*) and Felix (10*) Götze
Mario, who will go down in German football history as the scorer of the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final, has made over 340 Bundesliga appearances during his long and distinguished career for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Felix, who is six years younger than Mario, was also on the books at Dortmund and Bayern but never made a senior appearance before moving to Augsburg in 2018, playing four times in the Bundesliga. After spells at Kaiserslautern and Rot-Weiss Essen, the central defender joined Paderborn in 2024, becoming club captain and leading them to promotion in 2026. As of November 2026, he has made six more top-flight appearances.
Fabian, a left-back who is two years older than Mario, never played above the third tier but did come close to a Bundesliga appearance when on the bench for Mainz in 2009/10. He retired in 2015.
Toni (173) and Felix (80) Kroos
Another 2014 World Cup hero, Toni Kroos, thrilled Bayern fans (and Bayer Leverkusen during a season on loan) with his immaculate passing ability, before enjoying a glorious decade at Real Madrid after the World Cup triumph.
His brother Felix, a year his junior, may not have been able to match Toni's incredible haul of 34 trophies (which included three Bundesliga titles and three DFB Cups for Bayern), but made 80 appearances of his own in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen and then Union Berlin
Sami (107) and Rani (296*) Khedira
Few players in the world boast a trophy collection quite like Sami Khedira, having won the league in Germany, Spain and Italy, the domestic cup in the latter two with Real Madrid and Juventus, the Champions League with Los Blancos and, of course, also the 2014 World Cup with Germany.
It all started out for the central midfielder at hometown club VfB Stuttgart, which was where he won the Bundesliga in 2007 and made 98 of his 107 Bundesliga appearances. He returned to Germany in 2021 for a brief stint at Hertha Berlin.
Emerging from that shadow was always going to be difficult for a younger brother, but in recent years Rani has made a name for himself in his own right at the heart of a history-making Union Berlin side, even scoring the goal in 2022/23 that secured them Champions League qualification.
There was even talk of him following in Sami’s footsteps by playing for Germany, but he instead pledged his allegiance to Tunisia, representing the country at the 2026 World Cup. Add in prior spells at Stuttgart, RB Leipzig and Augsburg, and the holding midfielder has accumulated over 250 Bundesliga appearances in his own right.
A third sibling, Denny, isn’t as gifted with his feet but has been using his brain in a career in sports management, also helping to manage his brothers’ affairs.
Watch: Pure class from Khedira
Malik (41*) and Timothy (35) Tillman
The Germany-born Tillman brothers both developed in the Greuther Fürth and Bayern academies before going on to represent the United States due to their American father.
Neither would make the breakthrough at Bayern. Timothy returned to Fürth to make 80 appearances in Bundesliga 2 (after two Bundesliga appearances on loan with Nuremberg), while Malik - three years his junior - made his big splash at PSV Eindhoven before returning to the Bundesliga by signing for Leverkusen in summer 2025.
Malik represented the US at the World Cup they co-hosted in 2026, where he became the first American player to score from a free-kick at the showpiece in 32 years.
Jürgen (140), Klaus (137) and Stephan (18) Täuber
The first family to ever produce three siblings to play in the Bundesliga was the Täubers of Erlangen. Eldest Jürgen and middle brother Klaus joined Nuremberg together in 1976 to take their first steps in professional football. Jürgen would feature a total of 140 times in the Bundesliga for Der Club and Schalke, making 14 appearances alongside Klaus at the former.
Klaus enjoyed the more prolific career with 155 goals in 373 competitive games for Nuremberg, Stuttgarter Kickers, Schalke and Leverkusen, winning the UEFA Cup with the latter.
The third brother, Stephan, was some 11 years younger than Jürgen, meaning they never got to play together and that there was never an occasion with all three brothers on a pitch together in the Bundesliga. He did play two of his 18 Bundesliga games (also for Schalke and Nuremberg) alongside Klaus while in Gelsenkirchen.
The Täuber trio were later followed in the 21st century by the three Dárdai brothers of Palkó, Márton and Bence, who all made their Bundesliga debut with Hertha. They have so far played nine, 41 and 22 top-flight appearances in Germany respectively. Palkó now played in Hungary, with the younger two brothers pushing for promotion in Bundesliga 2 with Hertha and Wolfsburg.
And of course when it comes to the Dárdai family, you can't forget father Pál, who is Hertha's record appearance holder in the Bundesliga (286) and had three spells in charge as head coach.
Other notable brothers to have featured in the Bundesliga:
- Klaus (424) and Thomas (378) Allofs
- Ditmar (493) and Michael (196) Jakobs
- Friedhelm (320) and Wolfgang (305) Funkel
- Karl-Heinz (310) and Michael (309) Rummenigge
- Bernd (291) and Karlheinz (272) Förster
- Halil (351) and Hamit (192) Altıntop
- Uli (250) and Dieter (288) Hoeneß
- Erwin (261) and Helmut (273) Kremers
- Sven (265) and Lars (256) Bender
- Niko (241) and Robert (247) Kovač
- Kevin-Prince (163) and Jérôme (314) Boateng
- Marco (100) and Daniel (372) Caligiuri
- Michael (146) and Andreas (276) Zeyer
- Maximilian (327*) and Johannes (73) Eggestein
- Gert (224) and Bernd (139) Dörfel
- Raffael (290) and Ronny (57)
- Dedê (322) and Léandro (12)
- Joël (194) and Marvin (112) Matip
- Leroy (200) and Sidi (1*) Sané
- Salif (159) and Lamine (38) Sané
- Felix (130*) and Lukas (69) Nmecha
- Dietmar (106) and Matthias (58) Hamann
- Jonathan (52) and Julian (78) de Guzmán
- Brenden (30) and Paxten (14) Aaronson
- Antonio Rüdiger (66) and Sahr Senesie (24)
- Kaan (91) and Mertcan (4) Ayhan
*All appearance figures are accurate as of 10 November 2026
