Hörburger Twins

The twin pair of Arnold and Anton Hörburger played for V.O.C. in Rotterdam when both received their first invitation for the Dutch national team, for the match against Belgium on April 10, 1910 in Haarlem. Arnold was selected and started the match, Anton was the only reserve in the 12-men squad.
Arnold suffered a knee injury after about half an hour, with the score already 3-0, and did not play in the last quarter of an hour before half-time. However, he returned for the second half, apparently fully fit. Immediately, rumours cropped up that his twin brother Anton had taken his place – the two were completely indistinguishable.
When asked, the pair always laughed the supposed substitution (not covered by the rules at the time) away. Arnold once remarked he wasn't even sure whether he wasn't actually Anton – as not even their mother had been able to tell them apart, she had given one of the two babies a blue ribbon and the other a pink one. When bathing the two, both ribbons once got loose and she just put them back on on a fifty-fifty chance...

Arnold later played on seven more occasions for the Netherlands, while Anton never (officially) took the field for Oranje in spite of being called up for the Dutch selection for the 1912 Olympic Games – he declined the invitation to play in Stockholm.
At club level, the twins played for V.O.C. and Quick Den Haag and there earned the nickname of De Prutsers for their tendency to keep dribbling with the ball rather than pass it to their team mates.

Below we list all 8 matches Arnold Hörburger played for the Netherlands.

Born: 17- 2-1886 in Rotterdam
Died: 20- 2-1966 (Arnold) and 23- 3-1978 (Anton)
Country: Netherlands
Caps:    8  (W5-D1-L2 - GF26-GA15 - %68.75)
Goals:   0
Age First Cap: 24 yr  52 d   10- 4-1910 vs. Belgium 7-0
Age Last Cap:  26 yr  36 d   24- 3-1912 vs. Germany 5-5
National Team Career:  1 yr 349 d

Cap    Date      Venue           Opponent       Score    Competition

  1   10- 4-10   Haarlem         Belgium         7-0
  2   24- 4-10   Arnhem          Germany         4-2
  3   19- 3-11   Antwerpen       Belgium         5-1
  4    2- 4-11   Dordrecht       Belgium         3-1
  5   17- 4-11   Amsterdam       England (Am.)   0-1
  6   10- 3-12   Antwerpen       Belgium         2-1
  7   16- 3-12   Hull            England (Am.)   0-4
  8   24- 3-12   Zwolle          Germany         5-5

Total Record
 
    GP    GW   GD   GL   GF  GA     Pts  Percentage
     8     5    1    2   26- 15      11      68.75


Types of           Matches and Goals
 
Friendlies             8          -

Total                  8          -

Brothers in Oranje

About this document

Main source: [VI 99]

Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Karel Stokkermans (karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 26 Jan 2024