Radja Nainggolan

Radja Nainggolan (born 4 May 1988) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Liga 1 club Bhayangkara.

Nicknamed Il Ninja, he spent almost his entire professional career in Italy, representing Piacenza, Cagliari, Roma and Inter Milan. He made 367 appearances and scored 48 goals in Serie A, being named four consecutive times in its Team of the Year.

A Belgium international for eight years, Nainggolan played 30 times for his country (scoring six goals) and represented it at Euro 2016.

Nainggolan was born in Antwerp, the son of Lizy Bogaerts, a Belgian of Flemish ethnicity who raised him with his three half brothers and his twin sister, and Marianus Nainggolan, an Indonesian of Toba Batak background and member of the Batak Christian Protestant Church. He was raised in Kiel, a working-class and multicultural neighbourhood of the city. His father abandoned the family when Nainggolan was still a child.

Nainggolan's mother died in 2010, and after her death he tattooed two large wings on his back with her dates of birth and death. He was raised Roman Catholic and speaks Dutch, English, French and Italian fluently.