Everton Women: Identical twins Karen and Sara Holmgaard on their footballing journey

Many of us have wondered what it would be like to have a twin.

Karen and Sara Holmgaard, the identical twin sisters who play for Everton and Denmark, have been confusing team-mates and managers alike since they started out in football.

On the pitch, it is easy to distinguish the 23-year-olds.

Karen is right-footed, Sara favours her left. Karen plays in midfield, while Sara is in defence. Karen prefers a possession-based game, while Sara’s strength is being powerful and winning duels.

But off the field it becomes much more difficult to tell the pair apart.

Even Everton’s Danish boss Brian Sorensen, who previously worked with the twins in their homeland, can struggle.

“With Brian, we have worked with him for two or three years and there are some times when he is still confused,” Karen tells BBC Sport.

Karen tends to wear her hair in a high bun and is slightly taller, while Sara usually opts for a low bun.

“If one morning I went to training and I had my hair down they [team-mates] can’t see the difference,” said Sara.

“After one game where Karen had scored I put my hair up and I went into the room where Brian was and he said to me ‘oh what a goal’. And I said ‘erm Brian, I’m Sara’.”

The pair say they have often pretended to be each other over the years and have got used to being referred to by the wrong name.

“Sometimes I switch but I’m not thinking about it,” said Sara.

When it comes to personality, Sara says she is the quieter of the two with Karen leading the way in conversations – but they also have similar characters.

“We are basically the same I think. I’m a bit more quiet, but I think we are nearly the same,” said Sara.

‘Being separated easier than I expected’

The twins joined Everton in August but, five days after coming to the decision, it was agreed that Sara would stay in Denmark for a six-month loan spell at Fortuna Hjorring.

It was the first time the duo had been separated from each other, having previously enjoyed spells at Hjorring and Turbine Potsdam together.

“It’s nice to be together but it’s also nice to show people that we can develop and it’s fine for us. I was expecting it would be harder than it was,” says Sara.

“We FaceTimed maybe four or five times a day, sometimes for five minutes and sometimes half an hour – normal sisters maybe can go days but we are close to each other.”

“Just small things, not hours, even just ‘hey’ if there’s something we needed to talk about,” added Karen.

It is this constant need to be in contact which makes them different to “just being sisters”, they explain.

“When you are twins you need to know what is going on with each other,” says Sara.

‘We wouldn’t have this career if we didn’t have each other’

From a young age the pair have always played sport alongside each other.

“After school we went to college and decided whether we wanted to do football or handball and we decided on football and it was normal for us to decide to do it together,” said Karen.

The duo started their first match together for the Toffees in the FA Cup in January and said their connection on the pitch is almost telepathic.

“We have played football our whole lives together, I feel that on the pitch we know where each other are, so I can always play to Sara,” said Karen.

With that intuition comes a competitive edge and a desire to push one another.

“We always want to be the best, so for example if we have to run then Sara has to run faster than me and I have to run faster. I think this helps us,” Karen said.

“We would not have had this career if we didn’t have each other,” adds Sara.

So, could we see them on opposing teams? It has almost happened – and the twins are not ruling it out.

“After being in Germany we thought that might happen,” Sara said. “Coming to England and being in the same area or city but at two different clubs.”

Karen added: “I think it would be something special, it would be good to try. We would learn a lot from it.”