They bore the same last name and both came from Joure, yet Danny Noppert disputed that he was related to goalkeeper Andries Noppert, who is in goal for the Netherlands at the World Cup.
Omrop Fryslân went to investigate and after a lot of detective work came to the conclusion that the two athletes are indeed distant relatives of each other.
Jan Otten is their ancestor nine generations ago. "Jan Otten was the father of brothers Hendrik and Jacob Noppert. Danny Noppert is descended from Hendrik, Andries Noppert is descended from Jacob," the broadcaster explained.