The Congolese roots of the Lukaku lineage

• Roger Lukaku was born in Kinshasa and played briefly for Zaire

• Roger and his wife Adolphine moved to Belgium in 1990

• Their sons, Romelu and Jordan, are Belgian internationals with Congolese roots

Akshat Mehrish March 29, 2016. A minute before the hour in the encounter between Portugal and Belgium, Jordan Lukaku enters the field. It is young Jordan’s second appearance for the Red Devils and the first time he would share the pitch with his big brother Romelu Lukaku. Three minutes after his introduction, the left wingback sends a cross into the penalty box, where it is headed home by the elder Lukaku, bringing Belgium back to within one of their opponents on the night. It is a mere consolation goal, but the value of the moment is not lost on one household watching the events of the night unfold closely back home; for Roger and Adolphine Lukaku, the former a retired footballer himself, it is something to savour. The Lukaku brothers were born in Antwerp, Belgium. Romelu, the elder, in 1993, and Jordan, the younger, a year later. Their roots, however, lie some 9,000 kilometres away in Kinshasa, presently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Roger and Adolphine Lukaku were born and raised in Zaire, the precursor to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Roger, a professional footballer, grew up playing for the local giants Vita Sports before moving to Ivory Coast’s Africa Sports d'Abidjan. In 1990, Roger relocated to Belgium, where he spent a nine-year-long playing spell, moving between clubs such as FC Boom, Seraing, Germinal Ekeren, KV Mechelen, and Oostende. A short stint with Turkey’s Genclerbirligi marked the only time in his European stay Roger moved out of his adoptive country. Furthermore, Roger Lukaku represented Zaire internationally between 1993 and 1996. His brief spell coincided with the nation’s golden age of football, and he was a part of the squads that attempted their luck at qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and contested the continental crown at the 1994 and 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. The forward scored his only AFCON finals goal in 1996 from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win over Liberia in the group stage before Zaire - Congo DR presently - exited the competition in the quarter-finals, the same as the previous edition. His short spell with the Zaire national team ended with the conclusion of the 1996 AFCON; three years later, he retired from football altogether, with his sons Romelu and Jordan, aged seven and six, respectively.

Tragically, poverty grabbed the Lukaku family back in its tight grasp shortly after Roger hung his boots for good, their tribulations summed up by Romelu in a later recounting of his childhood days for the Players’ Tribune. “I’d want to take a bath, and there would be no hot water. My mum would heat up a kettle on the stove, and I’d stand in the shower splashing the warm water on top of my head with a cup,” Romelu Lukaku wrote. “There were even times when my mum had to “borrow” bread from the bakery down the street. The bakers knew me and my little brother, so they’d let her take a loaf of bread on Monday and pay them back on Friday.” Their lineage and their struggles shaped the Lukaku brothers. Following their father’s footsteps, the siblings set out on the same path in Belgium, where the family was now residing permanently.

Romelu, the elder of the two, broke through first; he made his professional debut for childhood club Anderlecht aged 16 years and 11 days, 11 days later than he had promised his mother. Jordan followed in two years, debuting for the same team aged 17 in 2011 before moving to Oostende, his father’s former club, in 2013 after two seasons of sporadic appearances. Jordan enjoyed his heydays with Italy’s Lazio, while Romelu was sought by some of Europe’s biggest clubs throughout his career. A forward like his father, Romelu would play for the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, and Inter Milan, among others, becoming the most expensive player of all time in cumulative fees. Rather than representing the country of their origin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Lukaku brothers chose to play for the country of their birth, Belgium. Romelu debuted for the Red Devils in 2010 and has since collected 106 caps and 72 goals, making him the most prolific Belgian forward in history at the time of writing. Jordan’s Belgian career was much shorter in comparison; the defender made just eight appearances internationally but was included in the roster for the 2016 European Championship.