Eden Hazard, a Belgian once considered among the top 10 footballers in the world has the ability to dribble without remorse, score goals at every given opportunity, and has the ability to retain possessions and finish strong. Nonetheless, this thriving career has come with different challenges which saw his fall that started with an injury.
Hazard has played for teams such as Lille, and Chelsea, and started playing for Real Madrid in 2019. He also plays for the Belgium national team and served as captain at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and was also listed as the captain at the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup.
All There is to Know About the Biography and Rise of Hazard
He Played For a Belgian Team When He was 4
Eden Michael Walter Hazard was born on 7 January 1991 in La Louviere, Belgium, and started playing for his home club Royal Stade Brainois when he was 4 in 1995.
He played for the team for about 9 years until he moved to another Belgian club Tubize in 2003 before heading to Lille’s youth team in 2005 until 2007 after which he started his professional career.
Prior to the time that Hazard started playing, he was already exposed to football through his parents, Carine Hazard (mother) and Thierry Hazard (father) who played football at different levels. In fact, his mother’s career as a football player continued until she was pregnant with the younger Hazard.
At his earliest stage, he played football with his 3 younger siblings – Thorgan Hazard, Kylian Hazard, and Ethan Hazard. All of these men and brothers of Eden play professional football.
At the beginning of his youth career, Eden Hazard was described as a gifted player who knew the right things to do on the field. Little wonder it took him a short time to rise to a professional career where he would rise to become versatile, energetic, a “goal machine”, and dedicated.
He became an “Unplayable” Footballer and Broke Records with Lille and Chelsea
Hazard has been described as the greatest player in Premier League by Juan Mata and as an unplayable player by Gus Poyet. He started a professional career with Lille after playing amateur with the same team in 2007. There, he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of Lille.
Still, with the team, he made another record by becoming the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Young Player of the Year. This turned him into the first international player to clinch the title.
After his career has gone down before picking up again with the team, it was officially mentioned that he would move to Chelsea on a reported £32 million signing fee.
With the English team which he joined in June 2012, Hazard rose to become one of the team’s most versatile and interesting players.
For 3 consecutive seasons, he was nominated for the Player of the Year award and after winning, he became the second player in the awards’ history after Pauleta to win the award in consecutive seasons.
He also became Chelsea’s player of the Year on 2 Consecutive Times and became the 5th in Chelsea’s history after Juan Mata, Frank Lampard, Ray Wilkins, and John Hollins.
He was 2019’s Most Expensive Player in Real Madrid
After a successful career at Chelsea, Hazard joined Real Madrid for a reported fee of €100 million that could rise to €146.1 million due to other additional fees. This automatically made him the most expensive player at the club.
Before him, Gareth Bale signed by Madrid in 2013 was the most expensive player at the club with a signing fee of €101 million.
According to reports, the main reason he was signed to the club was to replace legendary footballer, Christiano Ronaldo. Also, instead of wearing the No.10 shirt that he has used over the years, he wore No.7 – the same number used by Ronaldo.
He Made His National Team at 15 and Has Played in 3 World Cups
Hazard started his national team career with Belgium in 2006 when he was 15 years old. He made his debut in the Under 15 competitions where he made 5 appearances and scored a goal.
The same year, he played Under 16 ad scored 2 goals in 4 appearances. He also competed at Under-17, and Under-19 from 2006 to 2009 before he was called to play for the senior team.
Hazard made his World Cup debut in 2014 and helped the Belgian team reach the quarter-final before they were eliminated by Argentina.
4 years later in 2018, he also participated in the World Cup in Russia where he served as Belgium’s captain.
At the time, he recorded history for Belgium’s second-quickest goal in the 6th minute. He also recorded a World Cup history of successful dribbles completed in any World Cup since 1966 after making 100% rate in 10 dribbles. He was also named the second-best player of the tournament.
The same year, he helped in leading Belgium to its second semi-final in history. The team finished third in the competition.
In 2022, he again made it to the FIFA World Cup Squad of Belgium as its captain. He contributed to its opening win against Canada (1-0) when Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of the match. Also, in the same opening match, Eden won an offside call and cost Canada a second penalty again Belgium.
See Also: Wayne Hennessey Is At His Last World Cup: Bio, Wife, Parents, Net Worth
The Sad Fall of Legendary Footballer, Eden Hazard
It was a remarkable moment for fans of Real Madrid when Hazard was signed to the team in 2019. Many saw his coming as a good replacement for one the best footballer in the world, Christiano Ronaldo.
However, things took another turn when he was faced with the ills of a hamstring injury on the eve of the 2019-20 La Liga season. Previously, there were debates about his fitness and complaints over how he was turning out slightly overweight.
Many thought that he would soon fall back to his old position as an ardent goalscorer and a dribbler at heart without mercy. Expectations started to be dashed when he was met by more injuries towards the fall of 2019.
Subsequently, his condition did not turn out very well as he could only manage to make goals a few goals and 7 assists in 22 appearances. The following season, 2020-21, there was also a decline in his performance.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup drew attention to him and there are thoughts of whether he could redeem his glory. Well, this seems even more difficult as he’s been put on the bench before a sad knockout by Croatia on December 1, 2022.
Quick Interesting Facts About Hazard
- Eden Hazard started dating his wife, Natacha Von Honacker in high school when he was 14 and in high school; they became married in 2012 and have 4 children (Yannis Hazard, Leo Hazard, Santi Hazard, and Samy Hazard)
- Hazard’s most known football prowess is his pace, technical abilities, and scoring
- In 2010, about 3 years before Zinadine Zidane became the coach of Real Madrid, Zidane acclaimed he would take him to Real Madrid with his eyes closed; 9 years later, Zidane fulfilled his promise and signed Hazard
- He has often been compared to Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo
- When Real Madrid supposedly wanted to sell him in 2021, it was reported that he insisted that he didn’t want to leave a failure but later ahead of the 2022 World Cup, he said he would accept it if the club asked him to leave
- He was involved in a controversy after he appeared to kick a 17-year-old ball boy in order to retrieve a ball in
Eden Hazard definitely enjoyed glory after glory until he met the most difficult challenges in his career. Will his past gem ever return or they will only stay as memories? While this lingers, it is evident that the football giant may battle harder than ever before to maintain relevance in football. Whatever the case, there is going to either be a rise or fall. While it may be difficult to rise again, stars such as Djibril Cisse, Roy Keane, Francesco Totti, and Petr Cech hit the bottoms when they suffered serious injuries. Yet, they rose. This is the same hope that a lot of lovers of good football have for the star.
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