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I didn't know how many people knew who Ferdinand was.

A brother who is unhappy is a dangerous relative to have.

It was less in pity than in anger that the world was moved by the photograph of little Alan Kurdi, that dead three-year-old Syrian refugee boy whose name we're all remembering now on the first anniversary of his drowning, along with his five-year-old brother Galip and their mother Rehanna.

I have a brother-in-law who lives in Spain.

My family were very poor. I am one of nine siblings: two girls and seven boys. Only my brother and I play in Europe, and then three more work in Europe, and another plays in Tunisia. This family is a footballing family, but our lives have not always been good.

I never really had to deal with a death in the family, let alone my brother.

My granddad always said he wanted to make me an England player. As soon as I went on to that pitch against Portugal, I knew he could die a happy man because he'd achieved his aim in life.

When I moved to London at age 16, tired of the shuffle around other people's houses and ready to live on my own, I met my English brother and sister, who instantly claimed me as family.

Sometimes it makes me sad that I didn't get to have one family for my entire life.