Ronaldo & Fabinho, Beckham & Moyes: 20 pairs of players who used to be teammates
Fabinho #Fabinho
Occasionally, you’ll hear two footballers described as former teammates and think — ‘did they seriously play in the same team together?’
Well, after scouring the archives, trawling through Wikipedia and using our trusted friends at Google, we’ve found some obscure football pairings that will blow your mind.
Whether it was for a matter of minutes, games or even seasons, this list focuses on any players that can justify calling each other ‘teammates’.
In total, we’ve compiled 20 of our favourite pairings, so be sure to check them all out in case any crop up as quiz questions later down the line.
The streets will never forget Taarabt’s incredible season at QPR in the Championship.
However, the streets might well have forgotten he played with the similarly flair-filled Kaka for AC Milan back in 2014.
You’d be forgiven for thinking van Nistelrooy played in a different era to Son, but the pair actually played four games together for Hamburg back in the 2010/11 season.
Given Totti’s reputation as a one-club man, it’ll be no surprise to find out the two played together at Roma, where Guardiola spent time near the end of his career.
Fishlock and Bronze have come up against each other on many occasions, yet the two were on the same side for a season at Lyon in 2019.
No, it wasn’t at Barcelona, though both did play for the Catalonian side.
The two actually played together at Olympiacos in 2007 — featuring alongside one another on 20 occasions.
An image of Kane and Vardy together on Leicester’s bench has now become iconic.
Just the 333 Premier League goals between them now.
It turns out, Zaha and Davids played together at Crystal Palace in the 2010/11 season.
We don’t know what’s more remarkable — that Zaha was playing 12 years ago, or that Davids was still playing 12 years ago?
It may feel like it happened in a simulation but US icon Lloyd did have a stint with Man City in 2017 at the same time Swedish icon Asllani was also enjoying a taste of English football.
Despite being rivals for most of their career, Aguero and de Gea were teammates for two years at Atletico Madrid.
Fabinho never had much luck at Real Madrid, though he did turn out with Ronaldo in one La Liga match.
Yeah, this one is crazy. Beckham went on loan to Preston from Man United in the 1994/95 season.
There, he met veteran centre-back Moyes, whose career was almost at an end.
Both Nagasato and Kerr are legends in women’s football and it turns out they played together at the Chicago Red Stars.
Mancini’s spell at Leicester is one of the most obscure loan moves ever — especially when you consider he was forced to play with Savage for five matches in 2001.
Again, many of you might be thinking the pair featured together at West Ham.
Actually, their stint as teammates came while both were playing for Lille.
Some people forget Pochettino enjoyed a stellar playing career. He even had the chance to share a dressing room with Ronaldinho at one stage.
Kelly and Mead both starred for England in the Euro 2022 final but they also spent time at Arsenal together when Kelly played for the Gunners as a youngster.
Raul’s career was coming to an end while he was at Schalke.
Meanwhile, Neuer’s was only just getting started.
Though both have enjoyed spells with PSG, the two shared the pitch together for Sevilla during the mid-2000s.
Barcelona star Oshoala is one of the best strikers on the planet but she once had a spell at Liverpool at the same time as Lionesses hero Greenwood.
Before both ended up in La Liga, Sanchez and Falcao played together for River Plate under Diego Simeone.
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