Raiola was born in 1967 in Nocera Inferiore, Salerno, in southern Italy. He moved to the Dutch city of Haarlem a year later with his parents.[3] Growing up in the Netherlands, his father opened a successful restaurant business where Raiola spent his younger years working as a waiter.[4] At the same time, he obtained his high school diploma and attended university for two years, enrolling in the Faculty of Law.[5] He started playing football for the youth team of HFC Haarlem, but stopped at age 18 in 1987 to become head of the youth team.[3]