The only twins to ever score in the same World Cup

René and Willy van de Kerkhof were born on the same day — September 16, 1951, in Helmond, Netherlands, just 50 minutes apart — and were practically inseparable throughout their football careers: they came up together at FC Twente, moved together to PSV Eindhoven, and played together in two consecutive World Cup finals with the Dutch national team, in 1974 and 1978.

At Germany 1974 they were minor pieces of an unrepeatable generation — the "total football" side built around Johan Cruyff — and neither of them scored. Four years later, in Argentina, with Cruyff no longer on the squad, more responsibility fell on their shoulders. And in the tournament's second round, something unusual happened: Willy scored against Austria (the Netherlands won 5-1), and two matches later, René scored against West Germany (a 2-2 draw) — each twin with his own goal, in the same World Cup.

That's no small thing. Across nearly a century of World Cups, plenty of brothers have shared a pitch — some have even lifted the trophy together, like the Charlton brothers of England in 1966 — but no other pair of twins has matched what the Van de Kerkhofs did: both of them, separately, appearing on the scoresheet of the same tournament.

The Netherlands reached the final again that year — their second in a row — and lost it again, this time to host nation Argentina. For the twins, it was the peak of their national team careers: they kept playing together at PSV for several more years, but never returned to a World Cup. Even so, they left behind something no one else has managed since.