Thousands of young children worldwide aspire to carry on their parents’ legacy when they come of age, and it appears that football is no different, where we get to see fathers and their sons play the game.

While some players were able to handle the responsibility that comes with their family name, others were unable to.

Nonetheless, there are times when the youngster equals or even exceeds the football accomplishments of his father.

So, we’ve decided to roll out the top 10 fathers and sons to ever play the game of football.

1. Alfie/Erling Haaland

Erling and Alfie Haaland are inevitably the first option on our list of fathers and sons to ever grace the game of football.

Alfie played for Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, and Manchester City for a period of ten years in England.

Erling also kicked off his early life in Norway, just like his father. He then traveled to Germany and Austria before he decided to switch over join Pep Guardiola side – Manchester City.

All to play for in the 2nd leg. Thank you to all our traveling fans 🔵 #mancity #UCL pic.twitter.com/pmMAITgpg2

— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) February 22, 2023

With the rate at which he is banging in a lot of goals, Erling could very well surpass the all-time Premier League single-season goal scoring record.

Unfortunately for his competitors, he is only actually starting.

2. Periko/Xabi Alonso

Miguel Angel and Xabi Alonso are another father and son you just can’t ignore as both were outstanding football players in their own right.

Miguel Angel Periko Alonso enjoyed a fruitful professional career, playing for teams like Real Sociedad and Spanish giants – Barcelona.

In his footballing time, Periko won over seven trophies, including back-to-back championships with Real Sociedad and one with Barcelona.

However, his son Xabi by far outclassed the legacy. The midfielder had experience with prestigious teams like Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.

Throughout his career, Xabi has won every important trophy in football, including the World Cup, the Champions League, the European Championship, and the league championships in Spain and Germany.

Also, he played a major role in several memorable games, such as Liverpool’s triumph over AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League.

3. Paolo/Daniel Maldini

There aren’t many father and son that have had more success football careers than these two.

Also, it is one of the few times when the son outperformed the father. During his twelve years in Milan, Cesare Maldini won six titles, along side four Serie A.

He went as far as being named in the World Soccer XI and the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.

Yet, his son Paolo carried on his heritage and rose to become one of the greatest football defenders ever.

Paolo earned a remarkable 26 trophies when he was a part of the team. This featured five Champions League/European Cup victories and seven Serie A championships.

It will be extremely difficult for any other AC Milan player to surpass his legacy because he established himself as the benchmark of defence.

At AC Milan, his son Daniel Maldini has since become a Serie A champion as well, although he still seems to have a long road ahead to go before he can match his father’s accomplishments.

4. Danny/Daley Blind

Throughout his 13 years at Ajax, Danny Blind won 16 significant awards, including five Eredivisie championships, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, among many other medals.

Danny Blind came back as a manager after quitting as a professional footballer, and he had the opportunity to coach his son at the Netherlands National Team.

Daley Blind won the FA Cup, League Cup, and Europa League while playing for Manchester United, and he also gave Robin van Persie one of his most well-known assists at the 2014 World Cup.

5. David/Romeo Beckham

David Beckham was well considered as one of the Most Valuable Player and Best Midfielder im the world.

He was regarded as one of the game’s top players, and the 2002 movie ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ made reference to his technical prowess by including him in free kicks and crosses.

At age 38, Beckham figured it was time to hang up his football boots thanks to a certain Mr. Messi during two legs of a Champions League match against Barcelona.

Romeo Beckham chose to pursue a career tennis after leaving Arsenal’s academy in 2015 and even worked with Andy Murray, but five years later he changed his mind.

He joined Inter Miami, the club of his father, last year, and in January he earned his non-competitive senior debut in a 4-0 victory over Club Universitario de Deportes.

Phil Neville gave him a quick cameo during the team’s 6-0 loss to Barcelona before the 20-year-old switched to join Brentford B team on loan.

6. Peter/Kasper Schmeichel

As Leicester shocked the world in 2015–16, Kasper Schmeichel became the second Schmeichel to win the Premier League in addition to following in his father’s footsteps by wearing the goalie gloves.

Peter and Kasper Schmeichel are both legendary football players and the only father-and-son combo to win the Premier League.

There is no chance that the Kasper will ever surpass Peter’s total of five titles or his number of 310 top-flight featuring for the Three Lions of England.

The former Foxes goalie, who will turn 36 in November 2023 and is currently playing for Nice in Ligue 1, has only appeared in 284 games for England.

His greatest accomplishment, though, was helping Leicester City win the Premier League in the 2015–16 season.

Many people believe it to be one of the greatest underdog tales in football.

7. Enrico/Federico Chiesa

Another young footballer carrying on his father’s legacy is Federico Chiesa, who presently for Juventus in the Serie A.

The 25-year-old winger, who is the son of Italian legend Enrico, has excelled since making his way through Fiorentina academy in 2016 and has since been signed by Juventus.

Chiesa, who is highly sought after in Italy, made his debut for the team in a friendly match against Argentina in 2018 and went on to play a crucial role in the Azzurri’s Euro 2020 victory.

Enrico, who was regarded as one of Italy’s most thrilling and energetic attackers in the mid-1990s, played with Fiorentina for three seasons (1999–2002), winning the Coppa Italia during that time.

8. Frank Lampard/Lampard Jr

Undoubtedly, a lot of football enthusiasts are familiar with this legendary father and his son in ththe world of football.

We can’t talk about fathers and sons to ever play the game of football without mentioning both. It was well known that Frank Lampard Sr. was a player to decided to stick to just one club.

He played a whopping 500+ matches for West Ham between 1967 and 1984 while representing the club. He was a gifted left-back and was among the most important players for the Hammers.

After retiring, Frank Lampard Sr. came back as Harry Redknapp’s assistant coach and oversaw a legendary group of Hammers players.

Contrarily, Frank Lampard Jr. emerged into the spotlight in 1995 and amassed 148 appearances for West Ham before departing for Chelsea in 2001 along with his father, Frank Sr., and uncle Harry Redknapp under tumultuous conditions.

He joined Chelsea, where he was one of their honored athletes, and the rest, as we all know, is history, he retired and later became the Blues coach before he was sacked due to poor performances.

9. Marcos Alonso Sr/Jr

The Barcelona left-back comes from a long history of footballers. His grandpa was the defender who helped Real Madrid win five European Cups and served as the club’s star.

The father of Marcos Alonso Jr., Marcos Alonso Pena, followed in his father’s footsteps by playing for Spain and joining Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Three generations of his family have played football, with Marco Alonso Jr. beginning his career at the Real Madrid academy.

He eventually switched to Bolton Wanderers at the age of 19, but only saw action for two minutes for the senior team. He had to leave his footballing career for 21 months due to contentious events outside of football.

After picking up the game again with Bolton Wanderers, Marcos Alonso Jr. moved on to play for Sunderland and Italian club Fiorentina before joining Chelsea in 2016.

10. Patrick/Justin Kluivert

Justin Kluivert graduated through the Ajax academy in the same manner as his father Patrick.

The Dutchman featured 56 times in all competitions for Ajax after making his first-team breakthrough in 2017 and scoring 13 goals.

In 2018, his performance earned him a spot in the Netherlands’ lineup, where he later won his maiden cap against Portugal.

The Kluiverts became the first youthful father-son debutants in Dutch history as a result.

For $15.5 million in the 2018 summer transfer window, Kluivert joined the A.S. Roma of Italy.

He spent last season on loan at Nice and this season at La Liga club Valencia, albeit his career has somewhat stalled.

Patrick Kluivert at the other end, was a former striker for Ajax and Barcelona, was commonly considered as a football legend in the Netherlands and abroad.

He won championships in Spain and the Netherlands, including the Champions League with Ajax in 1995, and amassed over 199 goals in his club career.

There are many other sons out there who decided to follow same path with their fathers to play the game of football, but we chose to highlight a few and there we have it.

𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙!