Napoli striker Romelu Lukaku and former Lazio defender Jordan Lukaku have announced they were being ‘Extorted’ by people refusing to release their father’s body for his funeral in Belgium.
The brothers grew up in a football family, as their father, Roger, played as a centre-forward for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and spent most of his career in Belgium at various clubs until retirement in 2007.
Both his sons went on to represent Belgium at an international level, but he died last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo, aged 58.
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Romelu and Jordan Lukaku released a joint statement on social media revealing that their plans for a funeral in Belgium had been ruined by a shocking situation.
“As you may know, we planned to have the funeral this Friday, but because of certain decisions being made in Kinshasa, will the funeral take place over there?” read the statement.
“Our dad passed away on the 28th of September, and we, as Brothers, tried everything to bring his corpse back to Europe, but we felt that we were being extorted by some people…
“If our father were here today, he wouldn’t accept it. It breaks our souls for us not to put our father to rest. But some people didn’t want it.
“We understand now why our dad used to keep us away from a lot of people…God bless your soul.”
Romelu Lukaku is currently staying in Belgium for treatment of a serious muscular injury, which means he is not expected to be able to play again for Napoli until at least November or December.
Full-back Jordan is a free agent, as the 31-year-old’s contract with Turkish side Adanaspor was terminated in October 2024. While in Italy, he played for Lazio and Vicenza from 2016 to 2022.
