[Oliver_Kahn]

The twin brothers have already experienced a lot in their young professional careers. bundesliga.de introduces Hamit and Halil Altintop.


On the first day of the 2003/2004 Bundesliga season, 61,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen got to see a highlight in the 39th minute of play between hosts Schalke 04 and archrivals Borussia Dortmund. The sun was shining and it was a high-tempo game.

A shot right out of the football manual. From 25 yards in front of the net. There was no chance for the keeper. Schalke took the lead and the fans had something to cheer about. And not for the only time that afternoon.

Fairy tale debut

It happenned again in the 58th minute. Another right-footed shot from about the same distance. And again the keeper had no chance. 2-0 for Schalke!

Football has its special stories and this was another one. The man who scored both goals was born in Gelsenkirchen and it was his first Bundesliga game. It was Hamit Altintop.

Team leader in Wattenscheid

It was a "dream come true" for the 21 year old. And the "dream" has just kept on going. Altintop became one of then-Coach Jupp Heynckes regulars on the team. An unbelievable turn of events considering the midfielder had been playing in the regional league a year earlier. He'd become a team leader at SG Wattenscheid 09 and his partner on the team was his twin brother Halil, a striker, who scored 39 goals in 84 games for the club. It wasn't long before Halil too moved up to the Bundesliga signing with 1.FC Kaiserslautern.

"When he suffers, I suffer too"

While Hamit was the rising star at Schalke, things weren't going as well for Halil. He only scored two goals in 27 games - but mostly he was just on the pitch for a short time. And Hamit who often travelled to Kaiserslautern to support his brother describes the time with the remark, "when he suffers, I suffer too."

Champions League and Turkey

The brothers wanted to play on the same team again and they did when they were capped to play for Turkey. But the family had discussed the brothers playing for Turkey a lot. The DFB had tried hard to lure the brothers to play for Germany but as Halil says "I'm 51 percent Turkish and 39 percent German". He decided like his brother to play for his parents home country, Turkey.

Besides playing for Turkey, Hamit got his first taste of Champions League play with Schalke. And things began to get better for Halil. He got a regular spot in the line-up at Kaiserslautern and last season he scored 20 goals for the club. His goals weren't enough to stop his team's relegation, but the brothers dream of playing on the same team was about to be fulfilled.

The twins mother Meryem

Last summer Halil signed with Schalke and the twin brothers were reunited. And finding a new place to live was no problem for the new player for the "Royal Blues". The twin brothers still live at home with their mother Meryem, not far from the Arena auf Schalke, the Veltins Stadium.

Hamit can't wait to take on FC Bayern

The twins are looking forward to the weekend's top 10th round match when Schalke host FC Bayern München (from 16:30 hours Sunday on the bundesliga.de-Liveticker). They'll most likely both be in the starting line-up for Schalke.

"FC Bayern is the perfect opponent for our team to shoot its way out of its problems..." Hamit says. And who knows maybe the two brothers will be too much for Bayern and help their team to an historic win.