A 2024 UEFA European Championship star has now revealed why his parents named him after an African football icon.
EURO 2024 is in full swing, with nations having begun the second round of group fixtures this week.
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One of the biggest games of the group stage is now on the horizon, with the Netherlands set to take on France on Friday at 21:00 (South African time).
Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Dutch star Tijani Reijnders explained the inspiration behind his first name, revealing that he was named after a certain former African footballer who played for Eredivisie giants Ajax Amsterdam.
"There is a football player from Ajax. His name is Tijani Babangida and my parents liked his first name, and that is it [how the name came about]," AC Milan's Reijnders said, according to Complete Sports.
Babangida is a former Nigeria national team star who represented the Dutch juggernauts between 1996 and 2003.
The former winger won three titles with Ajax, including the 1997/98 league trophy.
According to Transfermarkt, Babangida was capped 26 times by the Super Eagles too, and won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta in the United States.
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In tragic news, however, Babangida's infant son passed away in May 2024 after a horror car accident, which happened along the Kaduna-Zaria highway in northern Nigeria, according to ESPN.
Babangida's son, his brother Ibrahim, and nephew Fadil all lost their lives during the fatal crash, while his wife was badly injured but survived the devetasting ordeal.
"We are devastated to learn of this tragedy and our hearts go to Tijani and his family on this painful loss," the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said in the aftermath of the incident.
"We condole with him on the loss of his son and brother, and pray for a quick and full recovery for him and his wife."
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