Shaqueel Van Persie's Stunning Brace Stuns All - Football's Best 10 Players With Iconic Parents

Shaqueel Van Persie Announces Himself To World With Incredible Brace - 10 Best Iconic Footballer Kids

Over the weekend Feyenoord came oh-so-close to a phenomenal last-minute comeback against Sparta Rotterdam, only to lose 4-3 in the dying second of the game. However, the fact they even came close to coming away with any points is in massive part thanks to the efforts of Shaqueel Van Persie, son of Premier League icon Robin.

Robin Van Persie, who is the current manager of Feyenoord, brought his son off the bench in the 63rd minute to help turn around his side's fate, and his son repaid this belief with a near-post tap-in and a fantastic overhead kick to seemingly drag back a point.

On the touchline Robin could barely contain his emotions and was bursting with pride at his son scoring his first and second goals in professional football.

This adds Shaqueel to a long list of iconic footballers who have seen their children go on to be elite-tier players in the sport in their own right, but who are the best, and who's closest to matching the legacy their parents left?

1) Erling Haaland and Alf-Inge Haaland

To start off the list, we funnily enough begin with a player who has already surpassed the legacy of their father, and that is with arguably the greatest player on the planet at the moment, Manchester City's Norwegian goal-scoring cyborg, Erling Haaland.

As anyone who has a remote interest in football will know, Erling Haaland is absolutely unstoppable and has already announced himself as one of the best talents of his generation.

To add to this, he has already achieved the illustrious treble in his playing career and, at only 25 years old, is sure to add even more to his trophy haul, including a possible Ballon d'Or.

His dad, Alf-Inge, was also a familiar face in the Premier League following spells with Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and, similar to his son, Manchester City. His trophy haul may not have been the highest, but he established himself as a cult hero for these clubs and in England generally, in part following his rivalry with Roy Keane and the infamous leg break caused by the Irishman.

🚨🚨| BREAKING: Real Madrid and Florentino Perez dream of signing Erling Haaland this summer. 🇳🇴⚪️

[@Plettigoal] pic.twitter.com/jZbIqO6baQ

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) January 15, 2026

2) Kasper Schmeichel and Peter Schmeichel

When it comes to tough parenting acts to follow, our next entry into the list is very fitting. Danes Kasper and Peter Schmeichel are also well known to English football fans, and both achieved great things in the country.

Son Kasper will perhaps be best known for his incredible role as part of Leicester City's title-winning fairy tale in the 2015/16 season; following this, he had a long spell as one of the most consistent and best-rated keepers in the Premier League.

Internationally, Kasper also excelled, becoming a stalwart feature of the Danish defence that saw multiple deep tournament runs; however, all of this is not quite enough to reach the heights of his father.

Dad, Peter is an absolute icon in the league and for Manchester United; in his 8 seasons at the Red Devils, he was able to win 5 Premier League titles and was captain when he led the side to a Champions League title to secure the treble in 1999.

Just to add to all this, he has gone down in the history books as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time and even helped bring a European Championship back to Copenhagen.

Peter Schmeichel turns 58 today. Here is two full minutes of him keeping Europe’s best quiet. Legs, arms, feet, hands, his face… he throws everything at it. All the best, Peter. pic.twitter.com/cCXaKb8jO4

— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) November 18, 2021

3) Timothy Weah and George Weah

In the spirit of having one of the greatest players in their position of all time as a father, we find current USA international Timothy Weah and dad George Weah.

Currently Timothy is on loan from Italian giants Juventus to French side Marseille, where he plays as a winger and right-back and is so far this season having a solid campaign.

Timothy can also brag about a solid trophy haul so far in his career; to his name he has 3 Ligue 1 titles and 2 Trophée des Champions from his time in France with PSG and Lille. Furthermore, he has a Coppa Italia to his name from his time at Juventus and a Scottish Premiership and a Scottish Cup double from his time on loan at Celtic.

This, however, doesn't quite match the legacy left by his father, George. The Liberian striker had a remarkable story of getting into football in the first place, but what is more impressive is the accolades he achieved during his career.

He won Serie A twice with AC Milan, an FA Cup at Chelsea and a first division trophy with PSG; perhaps the crowning jewel in his accolades, however, is the Ballon d'Or he won. Oh, and even outside of football, George Weah was achieving, as he served as Liberia's 25th president.

George Weah was a genius pic.twitter.com/bQBuPkRCbC

— 90s Footballers (@90sPlayers) January 7, 2026

4) Marcus Thuram and Lillian Thuram

Lillian Thuram, in fact, produced two sons who play at the elite level, Marcus and Khephren; however, we have opted to select Marcus for the list seeing as he has so far achieved more in his career.

Currently Marcus plays for Italian giants Inter Milan and has so far had a hugely successful spell with the side.

In his debut season he won the Serie A with the club, and since then he has played a huge role in getting his side to the Champions League final last season and looks likely to add a second title to the list, as Inter currently top the Serie A.

Lillian, however, smashes this trophy record with some huge accolades in his career; he won 2 Serie A titles at Juventus, a UEFA Cup at Parma and a Spanish Super Cup at Barcelona, amongst multiple other trophies.

What's perhaps most impressive about Lillian is his crucial role in France having a spell of international dominance; he was a key part of the nation's World Cup victory in 1998 and then again when the side won the European Championship in 2000.

History! Marcus Thuram's goal vs Barcelona (30 seconds) was the FASTEST ever scored in a UEFA Champions League semi-final. 🇫🇷✨ pic.twitter.com/gzvOVy8mJM

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) April 30, 2025

5) Federico Chiesa and Enrico Chiesa

Currently Federico is in a strange period of his career; he has seemingly been frozen out of the Liverpool squad under Arne Slot for unknown reasons, and his future is currently unknown, with a potential return to Juventus on the cards.

But prior to this, Federico announced himself to the world as one of the premier young talents with the potential to rival Mbappe as the generation's young stars; this has as of yet not panned out to be the case, however, he still has time.

His trophy haul is, regardless, highly impressive; he won Italian Player of the Year in 2021, the same season in which he was awarded Serie A Player of the Year at Juventus. He has also won a Premier League with Liverpool, 1 Italian Super Cup and 2 Italian Cups and was instrumental in Italy winning the 2020 Euros.

Similarly, his father, Enrico, made quite the name for himself in Italian football and is fondly remembered by the nation for his contributions.

Enrico established himself as a cult hero for fans of Fiorentina and Parma, as he won an Italian Cup with both but also won a UEFA Cup with Parma, during which run he also managed to secure the golden boot for the tournament.

🎖️| @_pauljoyce: It seems "likely" that Federico Chiesa departs Liverpool at the end of the season. pic.twitter.com/VyDDam6gPB

— Anfield Edition | æ (@AnfieldEdition) January 19, 2026

6) Giuliano Simeone and Diego Simeone

You may well know him best as the fiery, deep-block-loving Atletico Madrid boss; however, before this, Diego Simeone was a highly rated and successful player.

He won trophies across multiple clubs, primarily at Atletico and Lazio. For Atletico he was able to bring home 1 Spanish title and 1 Spanish cup; for Lazio he was able to win 1 league title, 1 Italian Cup, 1 Italian Super Cup and a UEFA Super Cup. Plus, during his time at Inter Milan, he won a UEFA Cup, but more importantly, he had a huge role in Argentina winning 2 Copa Americas.

So far Giuliano has not been able to brag of any silverware; however, he has shown huge promise to do so under his father's management at Atletico.

Diego Simeone’s longevity at Atletico Madrid is unreal! 👏 pic.twitter.com/tWxwN3Xlq6

— SPORF (@Sporf) January 14, 2026

7) Justin Kluivert and Patrick Kluivert

Justin Kluivert had hype around him for a long time as a young player; however, for a period the hype seemingly faded. Now, though, he has brought it back around and established himself as one of the key players at Bournemouth in the Premier League.

He's also still young, so there is potential for trophies to be added to the career of Justin.

Father Patrick, however, was no stranger to trophies, having won so many throughout his playing career. His trophy haul includes 3 Dutch trophies, 2 Dutch Super Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 Spanish League title and the crown jewel, a Champions League with Ajax.

Whether Justin will go on to hit these heights is debated and generally agreed to be very unlikely; however, you never know if he gets the right move at some point in his career, there is still time. Otherwise, he can just establish himself as an icon on the south coast of England.

It’s Patrick Kluivert’s birthday today. You remember him.

Good feet for a big lad.pic.twitter.com/crrHix4Ndk

— A Funny Old Game (@sid_lambert) July 1, 2022

8) Shaqueel Van Persie and Robin Van Persie

Now for the youngster who inspired this article, Shaqueel Van Persie, now, as mentioned, he only scored his maiden professional goal over the weekend and capped it off with a spectacular overhead kick.

It's still too early to say whether he might reach the heights of his father, but Shaqueel went about announcing himself to the world in perhaps the best imaginable way, and all in front of his very proud father/manager.

Speaking of whom, Robin Van Persie is both loved and adored by fans in the Premier League, but what can't be denied is his legacy as one of the greatest players to have ever played in the league.

Iconic moments such as the diving header at the 2014 World Cup helped cement him as an iconic figure in the sport, but even without this, his achievements speak for themselves.

He won 2 Premier League Golden Boots, 2 Premier League Player of the Year awards, 1 Premier League, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 FA Cup, 2 English Super Cups, 1 Dutch Cup and 1 Dutch Super Cup. Not exactly a bad haul.

It's minute 86, Feyenoord was losing 3-1.

Shaqueel van Persie scores a backheel goal, making it 3-2.

Two minutes later, Shaqueel van Persie scores a bicycle kick goal, making it 3-3.

With his manager and father Robin van Persie watching from the sideline. pic.twitter.com/ugNmWVjevV

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) January 18, 2026

9) Liam Delap and Rory Delap

At Chelsea Liam Delap is having a strange season and so far is looking like he made the wrong choice in terms of moves last summer, following his breakout campaign as Ipswich's main man in their battle to survive promotion to the Premier League.

The Chelsea move being the right one is up for debate, but what isn't up for debate is the talent that Liam Delap has and that he is probably going to end up as a starting striker for England if he can get solid gametime.

His dad, Rory, fits the bill of iconic players due to the fact that every fan in the country would know who you're talking about due to his infamous throw-ins back in his playing days and how iconic of a feature of the game they became.

To purely define Rory by this would be disrespectful; he was also a very solid player and won the Championship title with Sunderland in the 06/07 season. However, I doubt even Rory himself would argue that his main reason for fame is those iconic throw-ins.

Rory Delap terrified defences with his long throw-ins 😳

To celebrate his birthday, enjoy every #PL goal scored from the former @stokecity midfielder’s inventive set-pieces… pic.twitter.com/zXDAsY50mN

— Premier League (@premierleague) July 6, 2023

10) Daniel Maldini and Paolo Maldini

Perhaps the biggest footballing name on the list here is that of Maldini; of course, we mainly refer to the iconic defender Paolo. However, his son Daniel is looking to make a name for himself.

Paolo has gone down in the history books as not only one of the greatest defenders in football history but also one of the greatest players the game has ever seen, full stop.

He is a legend in Milan for his time at AC Milan; however, national team feats have also made him a beloved figure in Italy as well.

Speaking of feats, Maldini's were incredible throughout his career; he won 7 Italian League titles, 3 Champions League titles, 4 UEFA Super Cups, 5 Italian Super Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 Italian Cup and 2 European Champion Clubs' Cups, all with AC Milan.

Daniel, however, has quite a way to go to match this phenomenal career; however, he is still only 24 and has a very promising career ahead of him, so who knows what Daniel will get up to following in his father's legendary footsteps?

‘THE ART OF DEFENDING’
By Paolo Maldini
pic.twitter.com/r47j4Fyran

— FOOTBALL ITALIA (@FutbolShIrTALIA) January 17, 2026