News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A family of football and music lovers are able to take their hobbies to the next level thanks to a unique genetic anomaly which has left them all with six fingers on each hand.

It makes it easier to strum guitars, play the piano and coming from Brazil – a country where football is the most popular sport - makes the position of goalkeeper seem a cinch.

Members of the Da Silva family were born with more fingers than the rest of us and instead of five digits on each hand they have six.

(Image: Reuters)

Out of 26 members of the family 14 have one extra finger on each hand, meaning manicures cost a bit more than for the rest of the population and when it comes to sports they have quite an advantage.

Joao de Assis da Silva, 15, preferred position is goalkeeper and said: “It's good because my hands are bigger than other people and I have a better grip and can hold the ball much better than people with five fingers.

“It can be difficult to get gloves because I have to buy two pairs cut one finger from a pair and stitch in so I have six fingers”

He also plays the guitar while his eight-year-old cousin, Maria Morena da Silva is learning the piano, she said: “My piano teacher wishes he had six fingers, you can play easier and reach more notes.”

The family, who live near the capital, Brasilia, are staunchly proud of their additional digits, when there is a new baby due relatives study the scan pictures to check if it has six fingers or not.

(Image: BBC)

One mum said: “We don't care if it is a boy or a girl.

“We are just delighted if it is six fingers.”

She laughed one drawback if the men have to spend more money on jewellery because the extra fingers for rings.

(Image: Reuters)

Grandmother Silvia Santos da Silva said the family's unique trait has never opened them up to discrimination and said family members born with more conventional hands and feet actually feel left out.

She said: "My father always looked upon this as something natural.

"For us, people with five fingers are the ones that are abnormal."

The family featured on the BBC's Countdown to Life, which now on iPlayer. The next episode is on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday night.