France and Côte d'Ivoire's recent warm-up friendly ended in a 2-1 victory for the African side, with Guéla Doué scoring. From the France bench, his younger brother Desiré watched and smiled—a poignant moment for siblings who share a French mother and Ivorian father.
The Doué brothers' bond stretches back to their childhood. Both joined Rennes' youth academy, with five-year-old Desiré following his older brother Guéla to a trial. Years later, when Guéla made his Rennes first-team debut in 2023, he replaced his own sibling—a remarkable full-circle moment in their shared football journey.
The Doués are headline names in a historic World Cup: seven sibling pairs are competing at the 2026 tournament. Four pairs will face off against each other across different nations. This includes John and Harry Souttar (Scotland and Australia), the Williams brothers (Iñaki in Ghana, Nico in Spain), Brian Brobbey (Netherlands) and his half-brother Derrick Luckassen (Ghana), and the Doué brothers themselves.
Three additional sibling pairs will compete for the same nation: Lucas and Théo Hernández for France, Leandro and Juninio Bacuna for Curaçao, and Laros and Deroy Duarte for Cape Verde. A potential eighth pairing—twin brothers Jurrien and Quinten of the Netherlands—was set to complete the record, but Jurrien's tournament bid was ended by injury.