Roger Menama Lukaku (born 6 June 1967) is a Congolese former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward. Throughout his career, he played for

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, was a Belgian professional football club based in Ostend, West Flanders. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and had ''matricule'' number 31. The club was declare ...

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

and Germinal Ekeren. He is the father of footballers

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Lukaku began h ...

and Jordan Lukaku.

Early life

Roger Lukaku was born in

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

in 1967. He started out playing football for Vita Sports, a local club, before moving to

Africa Sports d'Abidjan Africa Sports d'Abidjan is a multi-sports club based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. History The club was founded in 1947. Sports The club contains teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball, and association football. Of these, the ...

Club career

In 1990, at the age of 23, Roger Lukaku began his career in Belgium. His first club was

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

club FC Boom. With this club he achieved promotion to the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

in 1992. The club was relegated in 1993 and Lukaku moved to RFC Seraing. With RFC Seraing he finished 3rd in the

. He stayed with RFC Seraing for two seasons before moving to Germinal Ekeren. Again his club finished in 3rd place. In 1996, he played for Turkish side Gençlerbirligi SK but he returned to Belgium after only one season to play for

. In 1998, he changed club and played for

side

. After the relegation of the club in 1999 the 32-year-old stopped playing professional football. He continued to play in lower divisions for Aat, KFC Wintam and in 2006 for KGR Katelijne where he finished his playing career.

International career

Lukaku played for the

Zaire national football team The DR Congo national football team ( French: ''Équipe nationale de football de la République démocratique du Congo''), recognised by FIFA as Congo DR, represents the Democratic Republic of the Congo in men's international football and it i ...

in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

qualifying rounds. He also participated at the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations, also known as the Coca-Cola 1996 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who rep ...

finals.

Personal life

After retiring, he and his wife Adolphine fell into poverty. He is the father of professional footballers

and Jordan Tafara Lukaku and uncle of Boli Bolingoli. He was arrested on 29 March 2013 after being sentenced in absentia to 15 months in prison for assaulting his girlfriend on two occasions in February 2011 and January 2012. He requested provisional release, because he didn't receive a court notification and subsequently couldn't defend himself in court. This was granted and he was released from prison after eleven days. He was given a new trial on 24 June 2013, where he was sentenced to 120 hours of community service.

References

External links

* 1967 births Living people Footballers from Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo men's footballers Men's association football forwards AS Vita Club players Africa Sports d'Abidjan players K. Rupel Boom F.C. players R.F.C. Seraing (1904) players K.V. Mechelen players K.V. Oostende players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Linafoot players Ligue 1 (Ivory Coast) players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Süper Lig players Democratic Republic of the Congo men's international footballers 1994 African Cup of Nations players 1996 African Cup of Nations players Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate men's footballers Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Ivory Coast Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Ivory Coast Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to Belgium {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub