The Twin Twins of the Germany Under-20 World Cup Squad
Many may remember the De Boer twins who played for Holland in the 1990s and early 2000s. They’re the only set of twins that we can remember donning national team colours for a European team in recent times until now. Holland has been outdone two times by their friendly neighbours from Germany. Their 2008 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup semi-finalist side includes not one but two sets of twins! They are Nicole and Sylvie Banecki and Monique and Isabel Kerschowksi. Like the De Boers, the Baneckis are paternal. However, the Kerschowksis are identical.
Here’s an excerpt from an article on fifa.com on the dynamics duos from Deutschland:
By some sort of coincidence, international teams seem to have more and more sets of twins in their squads at major tournaments these days. Germany have outdone all the others by having a duo of duos at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2008. When coach Maren Meinert runs her squad through daily training exercises in Chile, it must be difficult for outside observers not to get confused. At a distance, who can tell Nicole and Sylvie Banecki apart, or indeed Monique and Isabel Kerschowski? But appearances can be misleading. “We are totally different,” says Nicole to FIFA.com, eliciting a nod of agreement from her sister, who is two centimetres taller. Both play for Bayern Munich, but while Nicole, who is 15 minutes older, is known for her silky skills, Sylvie is a bustling attacker. The pair have a footballing older brother too, Francis, who has played two Bundesliga matches for Werder Bremen. Another thing the two 20-year-olds definitely common is their ambition. “Ideally we want to win here at the U-20 World Cup,” says Sylvie.
The Banecki sisters come from Berlin, as do the Kerschowski twins, who ply their trade with Turbine Potsdam and are even more difficult to tell apart. Physically they are virtually identical, but their friends will tell you that Monique has a horizontal scar on her brow while Isabel has a vertical one in the same place. On the pitch, Monique’s job is to keep opposing centre-forwards under wraps, while Isabel operates at the other end of the pitch. “There’s one thing that all four of us have in common. We believe that we can win the World Cup,” say Nicole Banecki and Isabel Kerschowski – who have three goals between them at the tournament so far – in unison.
