A special breed of twins

Sports Reporter

ALTHOUGH now retired, Dutch football twins Frank and Ronald de Boer still hold a special record.

They are the most capped twins in international football, having featured 56 times for the Netherlands.

The de Boers were inseparable, playing together on over 400 occasions, mainly for Ajax and Barcelona.

They also played together at Rangers in Scotland before short stints with Qatari clubs Al Rayyan and Al-Shammal in the twilight of their glittering careers.

Twins who excel at the top level and go on to win titles with the same clubs are rare.

You have to rummage through football archives to find the da Silva brothers, Fabio and Rafael, who won the English league championship with Manchester United in 2011.

Although few and far between, Zimbabwe has also been blessed with twins that have won league championships with the same team.

Wilfred and William Mugeyi became the first twins since Independence to win a top-flight league championship when they inspired Black Aces to glory in 1992, the last year of the Super League.

Twenty-five years later, Kelvin and Elvis Moyo would walk down that special path with FC Platinum.

They actually remain the only twins since inception of the Premier Soccer League in 1993 to win a league title playing for the same club.

In fact, they won two consecutive league titles in 2017 and 2018 with the Zvishavane-based side.

All in all, they spent six years at FC Platinum and helped the miners win four trophies — two league titles, one Chibuku Super Cup in 2014 and the Castle Challenge Cup in 2019. The 29-year-old Moyo brothers have played together since childhood at Amazulu and Highlanders juniors, Bantu Rovers, FC Platinum, Chippa United and Bulawayo Chiefs, where they recently reunited after a rare separation.

After the end of their stay at South African side Chippa United in 2020, Elvis came back to join ambitious Bulawayo Chiefs, while Kelvin joined Zambian giants Nkana.

The lure of playing alongside his brother and the attractive environment at the financially stable Bulawayo Chiefs combined to push Kelvin to reunite with his brother at ‘The Ninjas’ in February.

Chiefs, whose professional approach to the game and massive social media drive have won them praises locally and internationally, have been one of the busiest teams on the transfer market this season.

They managed to sign top players like Kelvin Madzongwe, Perfect Chikwende, Obriel Chirinda and Takabva Mawaya.

The players have settled well at Chiefs, who have shrugged off a shaky start to be among top performers in the league for the past five games and have moved into ninth place.

Nilton Terroso’s men managed nine points from their last five games, a tally only attained by Black Rhinos and champions FC Platinum, whose abandoned match against Highlanders is yet to be decided.

“I can say we have settled in well at Bulawayo Chiefs because we now know and understand how the team wants to play.

“Of course, as players we are getting to know each other better,” Kelvin Moyo told The Sunday Mail Sport.

The identical twins play close to each other in Chiefs’ rear-guard, with Kelvin playing on the left side of central defence and Elvis at left-back.

They started playing football together in the streets of Bulawayo’s high-density suburb, Mzilikazi.

The pair’s early life revolved around street football.

“We stayed with our mother and grandmother, and we were always busy playing football in the streets.

“At least that helped us stay out of trouble.

“We would go to training every day after school, but as boys I guess we were also naughty at times,” Kelvin said.

“We have been playing together since we were young and we understand each other very well.

“So it was not a difficult choice for me to join Bulawayo Chiefs. Yes, he (Elvis) did convince me to join the team.

“The most important thing is to join a team where you see yourself improving and growing as a player.”

The duo believe it will be up to the players to work hard and achieve milestones.

“It is not all about Bulawayo Chiefs. It’s up to us (players) to work extra hard so that we can achieve our goals, because the team has given us the opportunity,” said Elvis.

“Terroso is a good coach and we have learnt a lot so far and I think now we understand his type of play. It’s starting to come out now.

“We are really enjoying playing under him. He is someone who demands a lot from his players. He always wants to win.”

The players are both married.

“I have two girls and Elvis has a boy and a girl,” added Kelvin.