Radja Nainggolan’s 31 Tattoos & Their Meanings

Radja Nainggolan is a Belgian professional footballer. Radja plays as a midfielder for the Italian club, Cagliari on loan from Inter Milan and also captains them. He has played his entire career in Italy and is nicknamed the Ninja. He has also represented Piacenza and Roma and has appeared in the Serie A Team of the Year four times consecutively. He also represented the Belgium National Team at Euro 2016. Just like other contemporary footballers, Radja’s body is also full of many tattoos that tell us about him. Radja loves flowers and has many types on his body and has also covered his back with a tattoo as a tribute to his mother. Let us look at the ones he has and the meanings they hold.

Radja Nainggolan

Neck Tattoos

1. ‘Rose’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan rose tattoo

Tattoo: The front side of the footballer’s neck contains a large tattoo of a rose flower along with a few petals.

2. ‘Heart and Wings’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan heart wings tattoo

Tattoo: The back of Radja’s neck is covered in a tattoo of a heart along with wings that span outwards and cover the sides of his neck too. There are three yellow balls inside the heart, labeled with the letters, “R, M, and L”. A little black star can also be seen tattooed above the left-wing.

Meaning: Many of Radja’s tattoos are to show his love for his family, just like this one that represents his sister, Riana, his father, Marius, and his mother, Lizi Nainggolan.

Right Arm Tattoos

3. ‘Flowers and Swirls’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan flowers swirls tattoo

Tattoo: The upper part of his right forearm is covered in a bunch of daisy flowers along with lines in the shape of a large swirl, covering the rest of his right forearm and wrist.

4. ‘Marigold’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan marigold tattoo

Tattoo: The lower part of his right forearm continues with the theme of flowers, containing a large marigold tattooed on it.

5. Letters Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan letters tattoo

Tattoo: The inner side of his right forearm contains three letters from the Tibetan language tattooed on it.

Meaning: The letters on his forearm, from the Tibetan language are pronounced as, “Ra, Da, and Ja” and together they spell out his name, Radja which means King.

6. ‘Bicep’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan bicep tattoo

Tattoo: The same daisy flowers that are on the footballer’s forearm are also tattooed on his right bicep.

7. ‘Chrysanthemum’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan chrysanthemum tattoo

Tattoo: The upper part of his right arm and shoulder contains a large tattoo of a chrysanthemum flower on it. The rest of the tattoos on his upper arm are joined by vines and little flowers with swirly lines done in the background to cover the empty spaces in between.

Left Arm Tattoos

8. ‘Flower and Lizard’ Tattoos

Radja Nainggolan flower lizard tattoo

Tattoo: The left shoulder and upper arm of the footballer is covered in another large tattoo of a flower surrounded by leaves. There is also a tattoo of a green lizard on his upper left arm, just above the elbow.

9. ‘Buddha’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan buddha tattoo

Tattoo: The upper side of Radja’s left forearm contains a tattoo of a golden Buddha statue on it. The same, swirly lined design from his other forearm as seen on this one too that connects all the tattoos.

Meaning: Although Radja is a Christian, he is actually an Indonesian of Batak background by roots and also believes in the teachings of Buddhism which is why he got this tattoo on his body.

10. Words Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan words tattoo

Tattoo: The inner side of his left forearm too, contains a few words tattooed on it in the Tibetan language.

11. Name Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan name tattoo

Tattoo: The left upper arm of the footballer contains the name, “AYSHA” tattooed on it vertically next to the head of the lizard.

Meaning: This is another one of Radja’s tattoos for his family members, with this particular one being the name of his adorable daughter, Aysha Nainggolan.

12. ‘Stars’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan stars tattoo

Tattoo: Radja’s left bicep contains a curved line of alternate large and small stars tattooed on it, right next to the name of his daughter.

Chest and Shoulder Tattoos

13. ‘Star’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan star tattoo

Tattoo: The right shoulder of the footballer contains a tattoo of a star on it.

14. Quote Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan quote2 tattoo

Tattoo: The words, “One Life One Wish” are tattooed across the chest of the Belgian in front of a background of circular designs and clouds. The head of a snake can also be seen in the middle of his chest.

Meaning: Radja had always wanted to be a footballer and this tattoo represents all his hard work and passion for the game that led him this far in the same.

Stomach Tattoos

15. ‘Snake and Words’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan snake words tattoo

Tattoo: The middle of his stomach contains a large tattoo of a green snake, with its tail on Radja’s waistline, moving upwards, circling around a few words tattooed in the middle of his stomach and reaching upwards with its head on the footballer’s chest. The rest of his stomach is covered in designs along with swirly lines that covered the rest of his abdomen.

Meaning: The words in the middle of his stomach read,

“live without pretending

love without depending

listen without defending

speak without offending”.

Radja got these words tattooed on his body as he believes in them and wanted to give the same advice to his fans.

Back Tattoos

16. ‘Wings and Words’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan wings words tattoo

Tattoo: The words, “REST IN PEACE” is tattooed just below the neck of the footballer. Most of his back is covered in a tattoo of a cross, along with wings. Below the cross are the dates, “02-09-1955 – 18-10-2010” tattooed, near his waistline.

Meaning: This is the large tattoo on Radja’s body and has a deep meaning for him. This tattoo covers up a tattoo of a smaller cross with wings and a few letters he used to have tattooed on his back. Radja got this tattoo in honour of his mother, Lizi Nainggolan when she died in 2010. The dates below are the date when she was born and the date that she died.

Hand Tattoos

17. ‘Dice and Date’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan dice date tattoo

Tattoo: The upper side of Radja’s right hand contains a tattoo of a pair of dice done in front of a spiderweb. The dice are showing the numbers, 5 and 4. The date, “02-05-2011” along with the number, “4” is tattooed just below the dice.

Meaning: The dice represent his own date of birth as he was born on the 4th of May 1988. The date below the dice is the date that he got married to Claudia. The number 4 next to the date represents the jersey number that he wears. It is also present on his other hand.

18. ‘Dice’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan dice tattoo2

Tattoo: The upper side of his left hand too contains a tattoo of a pair of dice on it, both showing the number 3.

19. ‘Number’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan number tattoo

Tattoo: The number, “4” is tattooed on his left hand too.

Meaning: The number represents the jersey number worn by the footballer.

20. Quote Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan quote tattoo

Tattoo: The sides of both his hands contain quotes tattooed on them. The right one contains, “Hate to Lose” whereas the left one contains, “Love to Win” tattooed on it.

21. ‘Swirl’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan swirl tattoo

Tattoo: There is a tiny swirl line tattooed on his left hand’s ring finger.

22. Finger Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan finger tattoo

Tattoo: The fingers of his right hand contain the letters, “A, I, A, and M” tattooed on them.

Left Leg Tattoos

23. ‘Ayeha’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan Aysha tattoo

Tattoo: The backside of his upper left leg contains the name Aysha tattooed on it.

Meaning: Radja got this tattoo to show his love for his daughter, Aysha Nainggolan.

24. ‘Ship and beast’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan ship beast tattoo

Tattoo: The left thigh of the footballer contains a tattoo of a ship sailing along with a chain surrounding the ship in a circular design. There is a face of a growling panther below the ship and a banner with the word, “FIGHTER” written inside it, is tattooed on the top of the chain.

25. Hailey Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan hailey tattoo

Tattoo: The left leg’s calf of the footballer contains a small design of flowers with a banner tattooed below them with the name,  “HAILEY” tattooed inside the banner.

26. ‘Cartoon’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan cartoon tattoo

Tattoo: The inner side of his left lower leg contains a tattoo of a little cartoon kid wearing red boxing gloves.

27. Dagger and Eye Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan dagger eye tattoo

Tattoo: The front side of his left lower leg contains a tattoo of an ornate dagger going through a shining blue eye. The handle of the dagger is made up of the hands of two hands holding each other.

28. ‘Footballer’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan footballer tattoo

Tattoo: The outer side of his left lower leg contains a tattoo of a footballer on it with his hands on his waist and his left foot resting on a football. There is also an olive branch tattooed to the left of the footballer and a banner tattooed to his right that reads, “NINJA”

Meaning: The tattoo represents Radja himself in his red, AS Roma jersey and the banner represents the nickname that he has been given, Ninja.

Right Leg Tattoos

27. ‘Mic’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan mic tattoo

Tattoo: Radja’s right thigh contains a tattoo of a mic on it wearing a red cap with the number 4 on it along with swirly musical lines tattooed around the mic.

Meaning: Radja loves music, which is why he got this tattoo of the mic on his body. The number on the cap represents his jersey number.

28. Name Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan name tattoo 1

Tattoo: The backside of his right thigh contains the name. “Manuel” tattooed on it.

Meaning: This is also a tattoo for a family member. Radja got this tattoo to show his love for his brother, Manuel Nainggolan.

29. Chinese Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan chinese tattoo

Tattoo: The outer side of his right lower leg contains three Chinese characters tattooed on it.

Meaning: The Chinese characters spell out the name of his sister, Riana. What many people do not know is that Riana and Radja are twins and she also plays football for the AS Roma women team.

30. ‘Ninja’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan ninja tattoo

Radja Nainggolan ninja tattoo2

Tattoo: The right calf of the Belgian contains a tattoo of the face of a ninja’s head with two swords behind it in the shape of a cross. The number, “4” is also written on the head of the ninja.

Meaning: The ninja represents Radja’s nickname, and the number represents the number of footballer’s jersey.

31. ‘Dollar’ Tattoo

Radja Nainggolan dollar tattoo

Tattoo: The inner side of his right leg, just above his ankle contains a tattoo of a dollar sign on it. The word, “Las Vegas” is also tattooed below the dollar sign but the tattoo has not been seen much.

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