80 Facts About Eden Hazard

Eden Michael Walter Hazard was born on 7 January 1991 and is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid.

Eden Hazard is the son of two former footballers and began his career in Belgium playing for local youth clubs.

Eden Hazard spent two years in the club's academy and, at the age of 16, made his professional debut in November 2007.

Eden Hazard became an integral part of the Lille team under manager Rudi Garcia.

Eden Hazard won the UEFA Europa League in his first season and the PFA Young Player of the Year in his second.

Eden Hazard won the Europa League again with Chelsea in June 2019.

At Chelsea, Eden Hazard established himself as one of the best players in the world.

Eden Hazard has since 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.

Eden Hazard was born in La Louviere and grew up in Braine-le-Comte.

Eden Hazard's father spent most of his career at semi-professional level with La Louviere in the Belgian Second Division, playing mainly as a defensive midfielder.

Eden Hazard's mother played as a striker in the Belgian Women's First Division and stopped playing when she was three months pregnant with Eden.

Eden Hazard has three brothers, all of whom play football, including Thorgan, who joined him at Chelsea in 2012.

Eden Hazard began his football career playing for his hometown club Royal Stade Brainois at the age of four.

Eden Hazard spent eight years at the club before moving to AFC Tubize.

Eden Hazard's parents accepted the offer from Lille head of academy Jean-Michel Vandamme with hopes that the training facilities in France would be better.

Eden Hazard joined Lille in 2005 and spent two years developing in the club's local sports school, due to its youth academy in Luchin not being in operation at that time.

Eden Hazard made his amateur debut on 1 September 2007 in a league match against Racing Club de France.

Eden Hazard finished his amateur career with 11 appearances and one goal, helping the reserve team finished in fifth place, which was first among professional clubs' reserve teams playing in the group.

Eden Hazard's assured performances with the club resulted in Lille offering him a three-year contract extension, which he agreed to on 18 November 2008, tying him to the club until 2012.

Eden Hazard was nominated, for the second consecutive season, for the Young Player of the Year award.

Eden Hazard became the first player since its inception in 1994 to win the award twice.

Eden Hazard lost out on the Player of the Year award, which was awarded to Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez.

The team's assistant coach, Marc Wilmots, stated that Eden Hazard often displayed a lazy mentality while training with the national team.

At the turn of the calendar year, Eden Hazard scored in the team's first match against amateur club Forbach in the Coupe de France.

On 4 March, Lille officials confirmed that Eden Hazard had signed a new contract until 2015, a deal which made him the highest paid player in Ligue 1.

Eden Hazard was rewarded with a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Two days later, Eden Hazard was among several players nominated for UEFA's Team of the Year for the 2011 calendar year.

Eden Hazard was included in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for the third straight season.

Eden Hazard agreed personal terms with the club and passed a medical examination.

Three days later, Eden Hazard scored his first goal as a Chelsea player in a league match against Newcastle United after scoring a penalty.

Eden Hazard made his Champions League debut for Chelsea in the team's opening group stage game against Juventus on 19 September 2012.

Eden Hazard ended his debut campaign at Chelsea with 13 goals in all competitions.

On 9 November 2013, Eden Hazard created Chelsea's first goal against West Bromwich Albion, which was scored by Eto'o.

Eden Hazard was unplayable, as a manager I haven't come up against anyone like that.

On 27 April 2014, Eden Hazard won the PFA Young Player of the Year award and finished as the runner-up to Luis Suarez for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award for his fine attacking performances under Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho responded by saying that Eden Hazard "is not so mentally ready" to help his defence, blaming him for the first goal scored by the opponents.

Eden Hazard became the only player in Europe who has taken more than 15 penalties and scored all of them.

Eden Hazard signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract with Chelsea on 12 February 2015.

Eden Hazard won a penalty after being fouled by James McArthur, and took it himself, heading in the rebound after it was saved by Julian Speroni.

Eden Hazard recorded a total of 81 touches throughout the game, and his performance earned him the man of the match award.

Eden Hazard converted a penalty for his 50th Premier League goal, making him the sixth Chelsea player to achieve this feat.

On 20 April 2017, Eden Hazard was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the fourth time in his five seasons at Chelsea.

At the beginning of the summer of 2017, Eden Hazard suffered an ankle injury in training during international duty.

On 8 April 2019, Eden Hazard scored a solo goal against West Ham United which would be voted as Premier League Goal of the Month for April.

Eden Hazard won the PFA Fans' Player of the Year award as well as every individual Chelsea award, the only player in the club's history to do so.

Eden Hazard was formally unveiled in front of 50,000 fans on 13 June 2019 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Eden Hazard went on to miss 16 Madrid matches across four competitions, which included the first El Clasico of the season, the Supercopa de Espana victory in Jeddah and the entire Copa del Rey campaign which ended with a quarter-final exit to Sociedad.

Four days later, Eden Hazard scored his first goal in over three months, a backheel goal against Sevilla in the sixth minute of stoppage time, which temporarily kept Madrid in the title race.

Eden Hazard played for various Belgian national youth teams, such as the under-17 and under-19 teams.

Eden Hazard was selected to participate and played in all three group stage matches, where Belgium were eliminated.

Eden Hazard subsequently played in the next two group stage matches against Iceland and England.

On 18 November 2008, Eden Hazard was called up to the Belgium senior team, for the first time, by manager Rene Vandereycken for the team's match against Luxembourg.

Eden Hazard made his highly anticipated debut for Belgium in the match against Luxembourg coming on as a substitute in the 67th minute for Wesley Sonck.

On his debut, Eden Hazard became the eighth youngest international player in Belgian football history, at 17 years and 316 days.

Under Advocaat, Eden Hazard became a starter in the team and, on 14 November 2009, played a full match for the first time in his international career.

In Belgium's next competitive match against Turkey on 3 June 2011, Eden Hazard started the match, but was substituted out after 60 minutes.

Leekens decided to lift the suspension after having a meeting with Eden Hazard that was organised by the player's agent.

Eden Hazard made nine appearances in Belgium's successful 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, scoring twice.

On 13 May 2014, Eden Hazard was named in Belgium's squad for the 2014 World Cup.

Eden Hazard scored a solo goal against Hungary in the last 16, before Belgium were eliminated by Wales in the quarter-finals.

Eden Hazard was appointed captain of Belgium for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Eden Hazard then scored twice in their second group stage victory against Tunisia.

Eden Hazard was selected as man of the match after his impressive performance against Tunisia.

Eden Hazard captained Belgium to become the first team to qualify for the tournament.

Eden Hazard featured in three out of Belgium's five games during the tournament, in which he provided an assist for Kevin De Bruyne to score the winning goal against Denmark.

Eden Hazard was later praised by Belgium manager Roberto Martinez.

On 7 December 2022, following Belgium's group stage exit at the 2022 World Cup, Eden Hazard announced his retirement from the national team at the age of 31.

Eden Hazard primarily plays as either an attacking midfielder or a winger and has been credited as being "possibly the outstanding talent in Europe right now".

At Chelsea, Eden Hazard matured into a world class player and was primarily used as a left midfielder, a position which enables him to cut into the centre and strike on goal with his stronger right foot.

Eden Hazard is still very young and he can become the best player in the world.

Eden Hazard is regarded as one of the greatest Belgian players of all time.

Eden Hazard's pace, coupled with his finishing and ability to retain possession, led to his former coach Claude Puel dubbing him "little Messi", in reference to Lionel Messi.

Eden Hazard's vision, described as being the trait he has improved on the most, coupled with his passing, has allowed him to develop into an effective playmaker and assist provider, which in turn, combined with his finishing ability, enables him to both score and create goals.

However, despite the positive opinions, Eden Hazard has endured criticism from some.

Lille youth academy director Jean-Michel Vandamme countered both managers' criticism by arguing that Eden Hazard simply possesses an intellectual honesty that is out of the ordinary and unexpected of today's footballer declaring "He is a real competitor, not a cheat, nor a moaner, because you don't hear him complaining when he gets fouled".

Eden Hazard married Natacha Van Honacker in 2012, and as of June 2021 the couple have three sons.

In 2012, Eden Hazard signed a sponsorship deal with sportswear and equipment supplier, Nike.

Eden Hazard appeared in an advert for the Nike Green Speed II alongside Mario Gotze, Theo Walcott, Raheem Sterling, Christian Eriksen and Stephan El Shaarawy in November 2012.

Since March 2016, Eden Hazard has been appearing in adverts for Belgium-based Lotus Bakeries promoting their Biscoff biscuit range.

On 26 June 2017, Eden Hazard became a part-owner of expansion North American Soccer League franchise San Diego 1904 FC to begin play in 2018, alongside Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and Moussa Sow.