‘AC Milan Star, Tijjani Reijnders Is Not Related To Tijani Babangida’

AC Milan and the Netherlands international, Tijjani Reijnders, has clarified that he is not related to former Super Eagles star, Tijani Babangida.

Tijjani Reijnders has been mistaken to be a relative of Babangida because they share a similar first name even though the spelling of the name has a little disparity.

But Reijnders who is currently on international assignment with his country, the Netherlands, at the Euro 2024 in Germany, has stressed that he and the Nigerian legend share no ties.

In a video posted on X recently, Reijnders said her parents decided to name him “Tijjani” because of their love for Tijani Babangida while he was playing for the Dutch club, Ajax, from 1996 to 2003.

He said, “There is a football player from Ajax His name is Tijani Babangida and my parents liked his first name and that is.”

Tijani Babangida who was born in Kaduna, North Central Nigeria, helped Ajax to win one Eredivisie in the 1997-1998 season, and two back-to-back KNVB Cups.

It was during that period that Reijnders’ father, Martin Reijnders from the Netherlands, and mother, Angelina Lekatompessy from Indonesia fell in love with the pacy winger.

Interestingly, just like his namesake, Tijjani Reijnders ventured into football and played for four clubs across the Netherlands before he made his biggest career move to AC Milan in 2023.

Since then, the 25-year-old Dutch winger has scored three league goals in 36 games for the Italian side. He has scored a total of 17 goals and provided 20 assists in 187 club appearances so far in his career.

Reijnders has played ten times for the Netherlands national team in which he scored a goal and provided one assist.