Brothers Jude and Jobe Bellingham will miss the chance to face each other at the Club World Cup after Jobe picked up a yellow card in Borussia Dortmund's win over Monterrey on Tuesday.
Jude's Real Madrid will face Dortmund in the quarterfinals of the competition on Saturday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, but Jobe will miss the match through suspension.
Jobe, the younger of the two, is following in the footsteps of his brother by joining German side Dortmund from Sunderland.
"I think we all saw that he was very disappointed," Dortmund manager Niko Kovac said. "I think he did not exactly know that the second yellow card is a suspension at halftime. He was a little bit surprised."
While one door has closed, Kovac said there will be more opportunities for the siblings to face each other.
"Okay, he's young. His brother is also young, so I'm convinced they will face each other, maybe next season in the Champions League, and then the future. The future is for them.
"And yeah, the Club World Cup would be nice, but now it isn't. Someone else must play for him, but it's also okay."
Jobe, was substituted in the 55th minute to avoid any chance of a red card, said Kovac.
"I substituted him not because of his performance. I changed because he had a yellow card in this game, and you saw we had some very intensive duels, and I did not want that someone is maybe then booked twice," Kovac added.
Jude spent three seasons at Dortmund after signing from boyhood club Birmingham City in 2020, before he moved to Madrid in 2023.
Both Dortmund and Madrid are unbeaten at the Club World Cup, with one draw and three wins each.
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.
