Football Dynasties at the FIFA U17 World Cup 2025 in Qatar: Children and Relatives of Famous Stars

The FIFA U17 World Cup 2025 continues in Qatar. The tournament has already reached the knockout stage, with eight of the strongest youth national teams in the world advancing to the quarterfinals. But this championship is interesting not only because of the results — many teams feature children, nephews, and grandchildren of well-known football players.

Football dynasties seem to be continuing their story: on the fields of Qatar, the younger generation is already reminding fans of big names associated with the Champions League, Europe’s top leagues, and World Cups.

In this article, we’ve gathered the players at the U17 World Cup 2025 who are related to famous footballers and are already making a name for themselves on the international stage.

Quarterfinal Matchups of the 2025 U17 World Cup in Qatar

By the time of writing, all participants of the FIFA U17 World Cup 2025 quarterfinals have been determined. The following matchups await us in Qatar:

• Portugal – Switzerland

• Morocco – Brazil

• Austria – Japan

• Italy – Burkina Faso

Many of these teams include players with famous surnames backed by entire footballing families.

U17 World Cup 2025 Players Who Are Relatives of Famous Footballers

• Vitor Hugo (Brazil) — cousin of Real Madrid defender Éder Militão.
A central defender for Brazil U17, just like his well-known relative. Vitor Hugo is the captain of Brazil at the U17 World Cup and has already scored a goal. He plays for Cruzeiro.

• Ziyad Baha (Morocco) — son of former Morocco national team striker Nabil Baha (21 caps, 4 goals).
Ziyad is also a forward and has already scored 3 goals at the World Cup. Born in Spain but chose to represent Morocco. He plays for Spanish club Calavera.

• Samuele Inácio (Italy) — son of Brazilian striker Pía Inácio.
Pía Inácio played for years in Serie A with Atalanta and Napoli. His son was born in Bergamo and currently leans toward representing Italy. Samuele, like his father, plays as an attacking midfielder and is now with Borussia Dortmund U19 after leaving Atalanta.

• Paul Scharner (Austria) — son of former Austria international Paul Scharner, who earned 40 caps and played in the Bundesliga and Premier League.
Father and son share the same name, but the younger Paul is a goalkeeper. The Scharners are a true football family: two more of his brothers have been called up to Austrian youth teams, and his cousin and uncle are also footballers.
Paul Scharner Jr. is Austria’s second goalkeeper at the U17 World Cup and has played one match.

• Jill Stiel (Switzerland) — nephew of former Switzerland goalkeeper Jörg Stiel (21 caps).
His father Arne Stiel also played football but without major success.
Jill Stiel is an attacking midfielder and one of Switzerland U17’s leaders (2 goals, 3 assists).

• Daniel Banjaqui (Portugal) — cousin of Guinea-Bissau international Zidane Banjaqui (9 caps, 2 goals).
Zidane Banjaqui represented Portugal in youth sides but at senior level plays for Guinea-Bissau.
Daniel plays for Benfica and is a key member of Portugal U17.

• Stevan (Portugal) — nephew of Renato Sanches, Euro 2016 champion (32 caps, 3 goals).
Renato Sanches is no longer called up to the national team despite being just 28, while his nephew Stevan is one of the leaders of Portugal U17.

• Reigan Heskey (England) — son of former England striker Emile Heskey (62 caps, 7 goals).
Emile Heskey played for years in the Premier League for Liverpool, Leicester, Wigan, Aston Villa, and Birmingham.
His son Reigan is a standout for Manchester City’s youth team and a leader of England U17 — he scored 4 goals and made 3 assists, but England did not reach the quarterfinals.
His older brother Jayden Heskey is also a footballer and captain of Manchester City U21. The brothers are also eligible to represent Jamaica through their father’s heritage.

• Cavan Sullivan (USA) — from a large football family.
His older brother Quinn Sullivan (21) is a USMNT player (3 caps) and a leader at Philadelphia Union.
His cousin Chris Albright is a former US international (28 caps, 1 goal).
Their father Brendan Sullivan was also a footballer but never played for the national team.
Cavan plays for the Philadelphia Union academy and has 2 goals and 2 assists at the U17 World Cup.

• Ilan Jourdren (France) — son of former Montpellier goalkeeper Geoffrey Jourdren.
Geoffrey Jourdren was a long-time Montpellier player and became French champion in 2012. Ilan was born in Montpellier and, like his father, became a goalkeeper. He began at Montpellier before moving to Lens. He is France’s first-choice goalkeeper at the U17 World Cup.

• Sergey Kozlovskiy (Canada) — grandson of Sergey Pokidin.
Sergey Pokidin played many years for Shakhtar Donetsk in the USSR before moving to Canada in the 1990s and founding Dynamo-Inter Montreal. Kozlovskiy was born in Canada and now plays for Atlético Ottawa.

• Thiago Cordero (Costa Rica) — son of Costa Rica defender Víctor Cordero (51 caps).
Thiago is also a defender and captain of Costa Rica U17. His brother Julen Cordero plays for Georgian side Samtredia.

• Nick Bennette (Costa Rica) — from a big football family.
His father Jevisson Bennette is a former Costa Rica international (8 caps, 2 goals).
His uncle Tray Bennette is also a former national team player (24 caps, 1 goal).
Nick’s brother Jewison Bennette is a current Costa Rica international (15 caps, 1 goal) and plays for Ukrainian club LNZ Cherkasy. Two other brothers also play football.

• Joaquín Meneses (Chile) — son of former Chile midfielder Fernando Meneses (16 caps, 1 goal).
Both father and son play as wingers.

• Noel Valladares (Honduras) — son of former Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares Sr.
Valladares Sr. earned 135 caps — the third-most in Honduras history. His son is also a goalkeeper and has played two matches at the U17 World Cup.

• Luis Suazo (Honduras) — son of former Inter Milan striker David Suazo.
David Suazo had a rich career in Italy with Bologna, Inter, and Genoa, and earned 57 caps and 17 goals for Honduras. His son Luis plays for Braga’s academy and has scored 1 goal in 2 World Cup matches.
David’s brother and Luis’s uncle Nicolás Suazo was also a footballer, scoring 26 goals in 48 matches for Honduras.

• Oscar Pineda (Mexico) — brother of US international Mauricio Pineda.
Mauricio plays for Chicago Fire and has US youth caps, though he has not yet debuted for the senior team.
Oscar plays for the Chicago Fire academy but represents Mexico at youth level.

• Aldo de Nigris (Mexico) — son of former Mexico striker Aldo de Nigris (28 caps, 9 goals).
Aldo Sr. is now an assistant coach at Monterrey, and his son plays for the club’s youth team.
Aldo’s uncle Antonio de Nigris was also a footballer, earning 17 caps (4 goals) for Mexico. He tragically died of a heart attack at age 31 when Aldo Jr. was one year old.

• Lucca Vuoso (Mexico) — son of former Mexico striker Matías Vuoso (15 caps, 6 goals).
Matías Vuoso was born in Argentina and played for Argentina’s youth team but represented Mexico at senior level. He spent most of his career in Mexico. His son plays for Club América’s youth side.

Another Interesting Case

• Can Armando Güner (Argentina) — eligible for Germany, Argentina, and Türkiye.
His mother is half German, half Argentine, and his father is Turkish.
He has already played for two of the three countries: 14 matches and 5 goals for Germany U17/U16, and 3 matches for Argentina U17.
He was born in Germany and plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach’s youth team. He has never been to Argentina but accepted the call-up for the World Cup despite being a Germany U17 player.
He was named after Diego Armando Maradona, which likely influenced his decision.
His father, Adalet Güner, is also involved in football and was a coach at Uerdingen.