Soccer goalkeeper Brad Jones, and his partner Dani Lawrence, welcomed their son Nico Luca on April 5. Nico’s middle name is after his older brother Luca, who lost his life to leukaemia six months ago, aged five. Luca lived in France with Brad’s former wife, Julie.

Brad began playing soccer in Perth; he has played English football since 1999, as his parents are English. He first signed with Middlesborough, and since 2010 has been with Liverpool F.C. He has been on the Australian national men’s team, the Socceroos, since 2007.

Dani is an English model, and was a contestant on Britain’s Next Top Model. She works as a physiotherapist, and she and Brad met in 2008 in Middlesborough; she was the physio for the club’s youth academy. She is an activist for the Anthony Nolan Trust, and runs marathons for charity.

(Photo at the top shows Brad and Dani with Luca, from the Kop That website; photo at the bottom shows baby Nico)