Fate has a way of dealing some funny hands at times. Desire Doue was just five-years-old when he caught the eye of the ever-attentive talent-spotters at French club Rennes in a scenario that gives weight to the well-worn adage of being in the right place at the right time.
Desire was doing keepy-uppies with a rather battered-looking excuse of a ball along the touchline as coaches from the Brittany-based club’s Under-9s ran the rule over his brother, Guela, in a trial. At the end of the session, the club moved swiftly to snap up the precocious pair.
Nobody could have imagined how that would turn out to be the starting point of such a glorious journey for the Doue brothers. Yet since breaking into Rennes' first team in August 2022, Desire has fulfilled his massive potential and then some. As for Guela, he made his competitive first-team bow for the club in February of the following year, entering the fray in a 3-0 league victory over Strasbourg to replace – you guessed it – his 17-year-old brother, who made way having delivered a devastating display that yielded a goal and an assist.
Having both shone brightly for their boyhood club, the duo sought pastures new at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, with Guela checking in at Strasbourg in July 2024 and the much-courted Desire completing a high-profile move to Paris Saint-Germain a month later.
As well as plying their trade for different clubs, the Angers natives, who were born to a French mother and an Ivorian father, have taken separate paths in international football too and are now set to represent different countries in their maiden campaigns on the greatest stage of all.
Since earning his first call-up for the friendly double-header against Benin and Uruguay in March 2024, Guela has become a regular fixture for . As for Desire, he first appeared for his homeland’s senior side in March last year, against Croatia, and six caps in, has earned a berth in ' 26-man squad for the .
On their relationship, Desire told the Téléfoot TV show: “My brother and I are like twins. That’s how we’ve always felt, right from a young age. We have this incredible bond that loads of people have commented on over the years. We tell each other everything and have no secrets. He’s such a massive support for me in my daily life."
As for Guela, the senior sibling once told Rennes’ official media channels: "My little brother has been beside me on every step of our journey. I pave the way for him and he follows. We’re keen to show exactly what the Doue family is made of." That was in November 2021 and it is fair to say the brothers have done just that.
Guela has established himself as one of the leading right-backs in the French top flight. What’s more, the buccaneering Strasbourg defender wore the captain’s armband on several occasions last season, in which his team reached the UEFA Conference League semi-finals.
As for Desire, he was a key cog in the PSG juggernaut has that steamrolled all-comers en route to capturing back-to-back UEFA Champions League crowns. In the 2025 final, he delivered two goals and an assist in a breathtaking display that helped the Parisians power past Inter in a 5-0 pummelling. He built on that swashbuckling showing with further eye-catching exploits at the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup™ at which he scooped the FIFA Best Young Player Award presented by Panini.
The siblings are now set to put family allegiances to the test in North America. France are among the favourites and in their quest to stitch a third star on their shirts – which would be the most fitting of send-offs for Deschamps – they can draw confidence from an embarrassment of attacking riches, with the presence of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise giving Deschamps the sort of selection headache any coach would relish.
Meanwhile, Guela’s Côte d’Ivoire, blessed with some of the most exciting talents in the national team’s recent history, could prove to be dark horses, with the likes of Amad Diallo, Yan Diomande and Nicolas Pepe aiming to propel the West Africans beyond the group stage for the first time.
The siblings could well square off before the action gets under way in North America, with France and Côte d’Ivoire to meet in a friendly in Nantes on Thursday. As if one family duel this week were not enough, just imagine the split rivalries back at home if the pair were to face off again on North American soil.
Sources: FIFA Official
