Eden Hazard

Lore & Background

Hazard began his senior career with Ligue 1 club Lille in 2007 at the age of 16. In his first full season, he became the first non-French player to win the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award, and the following season became the first player to win the award twice. In the 2010–11 season, he won the league and cup double and was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, the youngest player to win the award. After 194 appearances and 50 goals for Lille, he signed for Chelsea in June 2012. He won the UEFA Europa League in his first season and the PFA Young Player of the Year in his second. In the 2014–15 season, he helped Chelsea win the Football League Cup and Premier League, earning him the FWA Footballer of the Year and the PFA Players' Player of the Year awards. Two years later he won his second English league title as Chelsea won the 2016–17 Premier League. In 2018, he won the FA Cup, and was named in the FIFA FIFPRO Men's World 11. He won the Europa League again with Chelsea in 2019, scoring twice in the final. He joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 in a transfer worth up to €150 million. Injuries, subpar performances, and a lack of fitness led to him only playing a limited number of games, departing the club in June 2023 and retiring from professional football four months later. Hazard made his senior debut for Belgium in November 2008, aged 17. He earned over 126 caps and was a member of the Belgian squad which reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, and Euro 2020. At the 2018 World Cup, he captained Belgium to third place — their best finish in history — receiving the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the tournament. From 2015 to 2022, he served as captain, including the time Belgium topped the FIFA men's ranking for the first time, which became the longest continuous reign of any European team.

In Their Own Story

It is a Tuesday in February, 2015. Stamford Bridge is half-frozen, the floodlights cutting white blades through the drizzle. Chelsea are two-down, the season is slipping, and the away end is already singing. Then, sixty metres from goal, the ball drops to Hazard's left foot. He does not run. He does not need to. He takes one touch, two, a small stepover that the centre-back reads a half-second too late, and suddenly there are two defenders, then three, all of them chasing the same ghost. The crowd noise swells into a single sustained roar — not a cheer, something deeper, almost geological. He slips a pass through the gap where a man used to be. The ball rolls. The net ripples. And for one frame, frozen in every replay they will ever show, Hazard is already turning away, hands on hips, as if to say: *that was the easy part.*

Reader's Guide

Hazard was born on 7 January 1991 in La Louvière and grew up in Braine-le-Comte. He is the eldest of four children, with three brothers who all play football. He began his football career at age four with Royal Stade Brainois, spending eight years there before moving to AFC Tubize. While at Tubize, he was spotted by a Lille scout and joined Lille in 2005. He signed his first professional contract with Lille on 28 May 2007. He made his professional debut on 24 November 2007 against Nancy. He was promoted to the first team permanently under manager Rudi Garcia for the 2008–09 season. His first career goal came on 20 September 2008 against Auxerre, making him the youngest goalscorer in the club's history. He signed a contract extension on 18 November 2008, tying him to Lille until 2012.

Did You Know?

• Hazard is the first non-French player to win the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award.
• He is the youngest player to win the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award.
• At the 2018 World Cup, he captained Belgium to third place, their best finish in history, and received the Silver Ball.
• His father Thierry played as a defensive midfielder for La Louvière, and his mother Carine played as a striker in the Belgian Women's First Division.
• His younger brother Thorgan joined him at Chelsea in 2012.