The Curious Case of the Boateng Brothers at War Against Each Other
One brother won the World Cup. The other would end up being kicked out of two national team squads. The story of the Boateng brothers is one thats always intrigued me. They share the same father but different upbringings would put them on different paths.
Kevin-Prince Boateng and his brother George grew up with their mother in Wedding. The area is one of the poorest in Berlin. Foreigners make up 30% of the population. More than a quarter of the area is unemployed with 17% on social welfare and 27% living below the poverty line. Kevin-Prince defied the odds to become a professional footballer.
His brother Jerome on the other hand was born to a different mother and lived in a more affluent part of Berlin with his father and his new partner. Initially out of the three brothers, Jerome was considered to be the least talented of them all but ultimately he's become the most successful of the three.
Despite living apart, the brothers would regularly hang out and play football together. George would not make it as a professional. But Kevin-Prince and Jerome worked their way through the youth leagues in Germany to play in the top leagues in the world, but both would lead very different paths.
It's fair to say that Kevin-Prince grew up in the more hardened parts of Berlin and that's what appears to have steered him away from the trajectory that his brother Jerome took.
Kevin-Prince was capped 20 times by Germany at youth level and made 40 total appearances. Kevin-Prince and a few other German under-21 players broke a curfew in team camp during a 2007 tournament which led to them being kicked out of the squad.
He opted to play for Ghana in 2009 as FIFA eligibility rules allowed him too as his games with Germany were only at a youth level. Kevin-Prince said that he felt more Ghanaian when making the decision. Upon later reflection he recently stated that he believes leaving to Tottenham from Germany impacted on him getting selected to the German national team and that's what appears to have ultimately swayed him to pledge his allegiance to Ghana.
@talesfrmthecrypt how'd you rate Kevin-Prince at the Spurs? Didn't seem like he got that much game time there.
Kevin-Prince Boateng chose to represent Ghana despite being born and growing up in Germany.
Source: Photo by Amanor Kwaku shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
Jerome's journey was very much different. After a successful youth career in the German under-17 and 19s, he received a callup against Russia for the senior team and became the first German to be sent off in their debut. It didn't matter as he'd feature regularly for Die Mannschaft.
Their different paths converged as they would come up against each other in the 2010 World Cup, the first brothers to do so in international history. Germany would win courtesy of a 60th minute Mesut Ozil goal. Germany would finish in third place. Kevin-Prince scored a sensational goal to knock out the USA in the round-of-16 but Ghana would lose in heartbreaking fashion to Uruguay in the quarter-finals.
Sensationally the brothers would match-up again in the 2014 World Cup in the group stages. Ghana took a shock 63rd minute lead before Klose equalised in the 71st minute. Germany and Jerome would end up winning the World Cup.
Kevin-Prince on the other hand was sent home only hours before the final group stage game against Portugal as he was alleged to have verbally abused one of the former managers during a team meeting. Ghana would lose their final game to the USA and crash out at the group stage and would never appear for the Black Stars again.
Jerome Boateng would play for Germany and was brought up in an affluent part of Berlin.
Source: Photo by A.Savin shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
Kevin-Prince has had his controversies. At Tottenham he basically got fat due to a poor diet and alcohol. In the FA Cup final in 2010, Boateng injured German star Michael Ballack and forced him to miss the World Cup. And as mentioned he got kicked off the German youth team as well as the Ghanaian national team.
He's seen as the the "bad brother", the rebellious one when compared to his brother Jerome but he has his own controversies too. He was found guilty of domestic violence. He also punched his teammate at the time Leon Goretzka at training.
Yet Kevin-Prince will always be viewed differently because his allegiance to Ghana as well as causing Michael Ballack to miss the 2014 World Cup. Ballack never returned to being the player that he was after that injury.
It's crazy to think that the paths of the brothers diverged and it all began with Kevin-Prince being dismissed from the German youth setup. Perhaps being brought up in the rougher part of town contributed to his rebellious ways which got the better of him. His brother Jerome epitomised a hard working defender and he got his reward by being a regular in the German team.
Their paths then CONVERGED as they met in not one, but two separate World Cup match-ups on opposing teams. But ultimately this story proves one thing. It does not matter where your upbringing is.
Despite being brought up in the more affluent part of Berlin, Jerome was charged with the heinous crime of domestic abuse against his partner. So much for the "bad boy" image that's been on Kevin-Prince his entire career...
What this story ultimately proves is that it does not matter where you're from. Your own story, your own path, your destiny ... it's in your own hands.
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.
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Kevin Prince Boateng moves a lot between teams, his best period was with Milan (a traveler between European clubs) ،،😅😅😅😅
Yep he's been around a fair bit. I guess it shows he's also been in demand. I mean Barcelona were interested and he moved there so that says something.
Not a fan of football, but I will definitely want to try to watch is a large crowd if I have a chance. Cheers buddy
Kevin-Prince indeed was given the bad boy tag. A lot questioned why Barcelona would buy such a player and indeed, it doesn't matter where we come from, we chart our course by our choices.
Thanks a lot for this, my friend. I didn't even know they have another brother neither did I know Jerome was from a different mother. Reading your posts are always insightful. Well done.
I can never forget Messi's netmeg on Jerome 🤣🤣😂🤣🤣. They both have different upbringing and different career paths. This is why we often gets told that our background should not keep our back on the ground. We always have a choice to make and we are responsible for our choices. Imagine Jerome being a domestic abuser despite how trimmed and proper he was brought up plus parental love too.
Unfortunately that's probably how Jerome will best be remembered 😂. Yep, that's what disappoints me with Jerome. He had everything yet he feels the need or gets into a position where he abuses his partner. Not cool.
😂😂🤣🤣😂🤣 the memes about it can never get old.
He has himself to blame for his choices. It's painful to see though.
😂😂🤣🤣😂🤣 the memes about it can never get old.
He has himself to blame for his choices. It's painful to see though.
I remembered prince playing for Milan, I feel his relatively rough upbringing played a major part on his personality.
It most certainly did. I respect that though, I think it hardened him as a player for the better