They played together for the national team of Cameroon only once, and now they meet in club football: Marvin Matip, playing for promoted team FC Ingolstadt 04, travels to his younger brother, Joel Matip, who is a defender for Schalke 04.
Easy for the parents
"My father will not have to follow both games on separate tablets, which we has to do normally," says Joel Matip. The brother's parents often visit games of their sons as they live in the Ruhrgebiet.
Different careers, same dream
Marvin Matip started his career in the youth of VfL Bochum, where he was born. But he only made one appearance for the first team and moved to 1. FC Köln in 2005, where he stayed for five years, playing 87 league games and contributing one goal.
After spending half a year on loan at Karlsruher SC, Matip joined FC Ingolstadt in summer 2010, when they played in 2. Bundesliga. He has featured in 150 league games so far for Ingolstadt, scoring seven times.
Joel Matip also spent three years of his youth at VfL Bochum, but he moved to the Königsblauen's academy when he was nine. So far, he has made 268 appearances for the Gelsenkirchen side in the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League, and scored 33 times, which is clearly not a bad amount for a centre-back.
Marvin Matip is six years older than Joel, and he has been somewhat of an example for him. But at only 24 years of age, Joel has the better perspective for his future as Marvin's time may be over in a few years as he celebrated his 30th birthday a few weeks ago.
Focus on the game
Even though it is somewhat of an interesting story, the focus for both teams stays on the game. After the two very unlucky defeats against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the league and the cup, André Breitenreiter's men are eager to seal another win, allowing themselves to stay in a good position.
For Ingolstadt, it will be a hard game, but the newcomers have shown from time to time that they are indeed able to gain some points in seemingly difficult games.