Radja Nainggolan's Life and Career Journey in Football "The father is a native of Indonesia who came from the Batak tribe and his mother is a true Belgian citizen"

Radja Nainggolan was born on May 4, 1988 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was born to the couple Marius Nainggolan and Lizi Bogaerts Nainggolan. The father is a native of Indonesia who came from the Batak tribe. While his mother is a true Belgian citizen.

Radja was born as a twin sister. He grew up with three stepbrothers and a twin sister named Riana Nainggolan who was born one day before he was born. Riana is also a footballer.

In Belgium, Radja was raised through Indonesian ethnic culture which is quite thick. When he was little, Radja had to witness an increasingly disharmonious relationship between his parents. At that time the father bravely left himself and his family to return to Indonesia.

Radja and his brother and mother must survive on their own. They barely have valuables. As a result of the incident, little Radja suffered.

The mother, Lizi Nainggolan then pushed herself and her twin sister to wrestle the world of football. Moreover, seeing their potential and where they both came from, Lizi Nainggolan thought football was the right thing for Radja and his twin brothers to get out of poverty.

Radja's passion for playing football began when he was five years old. Together with his sister, Radja began playing at Tubantia Borgehout, a small club in his hometown.

In 1998 at the age of 10 Radja moved to Germinal Beerschot, a team at the top of Belgium and that's when Radja began to realize that football could be the future for him and his beautiful sister.

But so as not to disappoint the mother, Radja never stops studying formally. Both Radja and his brother often get top rank in their class.

Together with Germinal Beerschot, Radja played until 2005. In the same year he migrated to Italy by joining the Piacenza academy. There, Radja immediately understood that Italian football was more difficult than he had imagined, and therefore Radja began to work harder every day.

It was also in Piacenza that Radja once again met his father after 13 years.

After about two years playing for the Piacenza youth team, Radja was promoted to the first team. For three years, from 2007 to 2010, Radja was a regular player of Piacenza, making a total of 71 appearances and scoring 4 goals.

In January 2010 Radja changed clubs and went to Cagliari on loan. He made his Serie A debut on 7 February, playing seven minutes when he lost 3–3 against Inter Milan.

Summer of 2010, Cagliari officially memennen Radja, in the club nicknamed I Rossoblu he played for approximately three years with always being the first choice. Radja recorded a score of 7 goals in 137 appearances in all competitions.

When in Cagliari, Radja was accustomed to always giving the best he could, by frequently fighting over the ball with opposing players. For this reason, Cagliari fans started calling him 'The Ninja'.

Apart from that, his performance with the Rossoblu made him very popular with the club's fans, they named him on the top 11 list of the best players in the history of the Sardinian club.

For Radja, according to her, the mother has become a very important figure in her life. His mother taught him to fight to fulfill his dream. After his mother died in 2010, Radja decided to tattoo his body to remember her.

Twelve days later, in the same competition, Radja also helped rid Juventus of the tournament when he played the full 90 minutes.

The following month, Radja scored his first goal for AS Roma, when they won 1-0 against Bologna. His neat appearance made the management of AS Roma finally bought it.

In the 2014/15 season Radja made 46 appearances and scored 5 goals. He also entered into the best team series A.

On 6 July 2015, Radja renewed his contract at the Olimpico until June 2020. His performance with AS Roma in the following seasons improved. He also re-entered the ranks of series A's best team for three consecutive seasons.

In the 2016/17 season he was also named AS Roma's best player after scoring 14 goals in 53 matches in all competitions. After playing brilliantly with AS Roma, Radja finally left the capital in 2018.

Together with the wolf of Rome, Radja has appeared in 203 matches in all competitions and scored 33 goals. Although not yet given a title. He is already known as one of the best midfielders in Europe.

On June 26, 2018, Radja officially signed a contract with Inter Milan with a transfer fee of 38 million euros, or around Rp. 605 billion. He was contracted until 2022.

Radja scored in his first match with Nerrazuri in Serie A on September 1, when he helped defeat Bologna 3-0.

Unfortunately, his first season with Inter was still unsatisfactory. Radja is often plagued by injuries so as to make his appearance not optimal.

In that season, Radja appeared in 36 matches in all competitions for Inter Milan. Of all the opportunities, he scored 7 goals and made three assists. In the summer of 2019, Radja then returned to his old club, Cagliari.

In the international stage, having had time to make an appearance in the Belgian youth team. Radja made his debut with the senior team on May 29, 2009, against Chile in the Kirin Cup.

Then his first goal for Belgium came on March 5, 2014, in a trial match which ended in a 2-2 draw against Ivory Coast.

After not being included in the team that appeared in the 2014 World Cup. Radja became Belgium's first choice when competing in the 2016 European Cup. At the tournament, Radja brought Belgium through the quarter-finals.

In August 2017, Radja had decided to retire from the national team, but a few months later he was called again by the national team coach, Roberto Martinez for a friendly match.

But, after his name was not included for the 2018 World Cup Radja again decided to quit the International arena.

His last match with Belgium took place against Saudi Arabia in March 2018. Radja has collected 30 appearances and scored 6 goals for Belgium.

In his personal relationship, Radja married Claudia Lai in 2011. The couple became parents of a daughter named Aysha who was born in 2012 and Mailey was born in 2016.

But on July 10, 2019, Lai was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy treatment. That was said to be a strong reason why Radja decided to return to defend Cagliari.

Now, Radja was once considered by many observers to be one of the best and most complete midfielders in Europe, because of his ability to help his team both offensively and defensively. In addition to his football abilities, this player who has many tattoos is also praised for his leadership.

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