Karim Mostafa Benzema was born on 19 December 1987 and is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains La Liga club Real Madrid.
107 Facts About Karim Benzema
2.
Karim Benzema is Real Madrid's all-time second-highest goalscorer and top assist provider.
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Karim Benzema was named in the La Liga Team of the Season for four consecutive years from 2018 to 2022, won La Liga Best Player twice and the Pichichi Trophy for the first time in 2022.
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Karim Benzema finished as Champions League top scorer as he won his fifth title in 2022.
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Karim Benzema earned 97 caps, including scoring in three and appearing in four major tournaments, and ranks as France's sixth-highest all-time top goalscorer.
6.
Karim Benzema was controversially left out of the squad for the 2010 World Cup and did not play for France for over five years after being implicated in a blackmailing scandal in 2015; he later returned to the squad before announcing his international retirement in December 2022.
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Karim Benzema has been named French Player of the Year by France Football four times.
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Karim Benzema began his football career at his hometown club Bron Terraillon SC at the age of eight.
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Karim Benzema quickly ascended up the youth categories in the academy.
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Karim Benzema served as a ballboy during Lyon senior team matches and performed well in school being described as a student who was "discreet and respectful".
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At under-16 level, Karim Benzema scored 38 goals in the Championnat National des 16 ans, the domestic league for under-16 youth players in France.
12.
Karim Benzema was called up to the senior team for the first time under manager Paul Le Guen during the break leading up to the second half of the season.
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Karim Benzema signed his first professional contract the same month, agreeing to a three-year deal.
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Karim Benzema finished the campaign with six appearances as Lyon won their fourth-straight league title.
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Karim Benzema made his season debut on 2 October 2005 in a league win over Rennes, appearing as a substitute.
16.
Karim Benzema opened the league campaign on a quick note scoring in the team's first match of the season against Nantes.
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Karim Benzema converted two goals in the Champions League group stage against Romanian outfit Steaua Bucuresti and Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv.
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Karim Benzema failed to score a goal until the final league match of the season against Nantes as Lyon recorded its sixth consecutive league title.
19.
Karim Benzema topped the league with 20 goals, scored four goals in the Champions League, one in the Coupe de la Ligue and totaled six goals in six Coupe de France matches, helping Lyon win their first ever double.
20.
On 13 March 2008, Karim Benzema extended his contract with Lyon until 2013 with a one-year extension option.
21.
Karim Benzema won the 2008 Bravo Award given to the most outstanding young footballer playing in Europe, and was shortlisted by French magazine France Football for the 2008 Ballon d'Or award, eventually won by Cristiano Ronaldo.
22.
Karim Benzema was nominated alongside Franck Ribery to be featured on the French cover of the video game FIFA 09.
23.
Karim Benzema was among the top scorers in the Champions League group stage, scoring five goals, a double against Steaua Bucuresti, two goals in two matches against Fiorentina, and a goal against the eventual group winners Bayern Munich on the final match day.
24.
Karim Benzema was presented officially as a Real Madrid player later that night at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, similarly to the previous signings of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Karim Benzema made his league debut for Madrid on 29 August 2009 against Deportivo La Coruna.
26.
Karim Benzema's goal was later cancelled out by a Ronaldinho penalty.
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Karim Benzema was even declared the "new Anelka" by a Spanish newspaper Marca blogger, referring to former Real Madrid striker Nicolas Anelka who had a tumultuous year at the club before being sold.
28.
Karim Benzema was defended by his compatriot Zinedine Zidane, who admitted "after two months, I was criticized" and that Karim Benzema was "a talented player and talented players in Madrid must win".
29.
The striker immediately drew the ire of Mourinho who declared to reporters during a pre-season media session that "Karim Benzema must understand that he is extremely talented, but that in itself is not enough", while stating that "[Madrid] need a striker who is sparky, not one that is listless".
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Mourinho sentiments were later echoed by incoming France national team coach Laurent Blanc who acknowledged that Karim Benzema was "not used to working".
31.
Three days later, Karim Benzema repeated his efforts scoring the only goal in a win over Sevilla in the first leg of the team's Copa del Rey semi-final tie.
32.
The strike against his hometown club was the 100th goal of his professional career, and the first goal for Real Madrid at the Stade de Gerland in six years, though despite the honours associated with netting the goal, Karim Benzema did not celebrate out of respect for his former club.
33.
Karim Benzema finished the campaign second on the team behind Ronaldo with 26 goals as Real Madrid captured the Copa del Rey giving Benzema his first honour with the club.
34.
Karim Benzema had some help from me, from his teammates and from Zizou, but he deserves the credit.
35.
In November 2011, Karim Benzema scored five goals; three in the league and two in Europe.
36.
Three days after his record-breaking goal, for his performances during the 2011 calendar year, Karim Benzema was named the France Football French Player of the Year, beating out Barcelona defender Eric Abidal and Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
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Karim Benzema became only the second French player based in Spain to win the award, and the second Real Madrid player to capture it.
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Karim Benzema opened the 2012 portion of the campaign in positive form.
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Karim Benzema scored against the latter club in the Copa del Rey in each leg of the Round of 16.
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On 2 March 2013, Karim Benzema opened the scoring against Barcelona in the league game at the Santiago Bernabeu.
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On 6 August 2014, Real Madrid announced that Karim Benzema had signed a new five-year deal that will keep him at the club until 2019.
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In 2014, Karim Benzema won France Football's award for French Player of the Year for the third time; only Thierry Henry has won this award on more occasions.
43.
Karim Benzema was chosen as La Liga Player of the Month for October 2014, with his manager Carlo Ancelotti winning the equivalent award.
44.
Karim Benzema scored three of Real Madrid's 13 goals of the month, in which they won three matches and only conceded just one goal.
45.
In December 2016, Karim Benzema was called up in Real Madrid's squad for 2016 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.
46.
On 20 September 2017, Karim Benzema signed a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2021.
47.
Karim Benzema's performances were praised by manager Zinedine Zidane, who called him a legend and compared him with Cristiano Ronaldo.
48.
In February 2020, Karim Benzema extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2022.
49.
Karim Benzema's brace saw him surpass Ferenc Puskas as Real Madrid's fourth All-Time Top Scorer with 304 goals.
50.
Six days later, Karim Benzema signed a contract extension with Real Madrid, keeping him at the club until 2023.
51.
Karim Benzema's brace allowed him to become only the fourth Madrid player in history to score 200 La Liga goals after Di Stefano, Raul and Cristiano Ronaldo.
52.
At the age of 34, Karim Benzema became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League era.
53.
Karim Benzema became only the second player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in successive Champions League knockout matches.
54.
On 6 May 2023, Karim Benzema was part of the team that won against Osasuna in the Copa del Rey final.
55.
Karim Benzema is a former France youth international having earned caps at all levels for which he was eligible, excluding the under-16 team.
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Karim Benzema is a member of the group, commonly known in France as the Generation 1987, a youth class that produced current internationals Hatem Ben Arfa, Jeremy Menez and Samir Nasri, alongside himself.
57.
Karim Benzema was the last of the four to make his youth international debut under coach Philippe Bergeroo and officially joined the team ahead of the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship that was played on home soil.
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Karim Benzema was a regular starter in the team at under-18 level.
59.
Karim Benzema made his debut with the team at a local tournament in the Czech Republic.
60.
Karim Benzema scored his first goal at under-18 level in the competition against Poland in the team's final group stage match.
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Karim Benzema was called up to the team for the competition and played in all four matches, scoring a tournament-high five goals as France were crowned champions of the tournament.
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Karim Benzema finished the under-18 campaign with 18 appearances and a team-high 14 goals and was, subsequently, praised by Bergeroo who, following the campaign, declared that Benzema was "quite efficient".
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Karim Benzema opened the scoring in the 11th minute, but his goal was cancelled out by Steven Fletcher in the second half.
64.
Karim Benzema made his under-21 debut for Les Espoirs under coach Rene Girard in the team's first match following the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship against Belgium.
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Karim Benzema started the match and was replaced at half-time by Yoann Gourcuff.
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Karim Benzema featured in qualification matches for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and appeared as a starter and substitute in the first leg and second leg, respectively, of the team's surprising defeat to Israel in the qualifying playoffs.
67.
Karim Benzema later told French radio station Radio Monte Carlo "Algeria is my parents' country and it is in my heart, but football-wise, I will only play for the French national team".
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Karim Benzema was called up for the first time to the senior national team by Raymond Domenech on 9 November 2006 for the team's friendly match against Greece that would be played on 15 November.
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Karim Benzema appeared as a half-time substitute for Djibril Cisse and scored the only goal of the match after a free-kick from Samir Nasri.
70.
Karim Benzema made his debut in the competition on 9 June 2008 in the team's opening match against Romania.
71.
Karim Benzema started the match, but was substituted out for Nasri in the second half after a frustrating performance.
72.
Karim Benzema returned to the team in its final group game against Italy and was given a place in the starting lineup.
73.
Karim Benzema scored his first World Cup qualification goals in victories over the Faroe Islands and Austria in October 2009.
74.
Alongside Gourcuff, Karim Benzema led the team in scoring in qualifying for UEFA Euro 2012, netting three.
75.
Karim Benzema scored his three goals in wins over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, and Albania.
76.
On 11 October 2013, Karim Benzema scored his first goal for the France national team since June 2012 in a friendly against Australia, thus ending a scoring drought for his national team which had lasted 1,222 minutes.
77.
Karim Benzema scored his goal when he side-footed home after a huge scramble in the Ukrainian penalty box, although he was shown on television replays to be offside by almost one metre when the ball took a final touch off Mathieu Valbuena's chest.
78.
Karim Benzema had four minutes earlier been denied a legitimate goal, the offside flag wrongly raised when he turned in Ribery's low cross into the net with his torso a metre from the Ukrainian goal-line.
79.
On 6 June 2014, Karim Benzema was named in France's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, making his debut in the tournament.
80.
Karim Benzema took part in the team's second goal, when his shot rebounded off the post and was fumbled over the goal-line by Honduran goalkeeper Noel Valladares for an own goal, the first World Cup goal given by goal-line technology.
81.
Karim Benzema was named by FIFA as man of the match for his performance.
82.
Karim Benzema responded on 1 June 2016 in Marca, in an interview entitled 'Benzema: "Deschamps folded due to pressure from France's racist element"'.
83.
Karim Benzema was left off the roster for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
84.
In November 2019, Karim Benzema replied to Le Graet's comments that his career with France was over, by saying: "If you think I'm done, let me play with one of the other countries I am eligible for and we'll see".
85.
On 18 May 2021, following speculation from the media, Karim Benzema was officially included in France's 26-man squad for UEFA Euro 2020, his first call-up to the national team in over five years.
86.
Karim Benzema overtook Zidane in the France scoring records as he scored his 32nd goal for Le Blues to become the 6th top scorer in their history.
87.
Karim Benzema's brace saw him over-take David Trezeguet to become Les Bleus' fifth all-time top scorer with 35 goals.
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Karim Benzema is considered to be one of the best strikers of his generation, with his Real Madrid manager Ancelotti describing him "the best striker in the world" in 2021.
89.
An atypical number 9, although he is usually deployed as a centre forward, and can operate as an out-and-out striker, Karim Benzema is capable of playing in several other offensive positions, and has been used on the wing, or even as a playmaker behind the main striker, either in the number 10 role as an attacking midfielder, or as a deep-lying forward.
90.
Indeed, Karim Benzema's movement drew defenders away and created space for Ronaldo to make attacking runs into the centre of the area from the left wing, which essentially saw the Frenchman act as a false 9.
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Karim Benzema was born in Lyon to French nationals of Algerian descent.
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Karim Benzema's father, Hafid, was born in Tigzirt, while his mother, Wahida Djebbara, was born and raised in Lyon; her family originated from Oran.
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Karim Benzema is the third youngest in the family and grew up with eight other siblings in Bron, an eastern suburb of Lyon.
94.
Since evolving internationally, Karim Benzema has participated in numerous advertising campaigns.
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Karim Benzema was chosen as an ambassador of the American video game publisher Electronic Arts for the FIFA series.
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Karim Benzema has signed several sponsorship contracts, notably with the Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai, the French telephone operator SFR and its subsidiary BuzzMobile, the French bank LCL and the sports betting company bwin.
97.
In November 2011, prosecutors asked for the cases against Ribery and Karim Benzema to be dropped, saying that the players were not aware that the escort, identified as Zahia Dehar, was 16 years old.
98.
In January 2014, the judge in the case dropped the charges against both Ribery and Karim Benzema saying there was lack of sufficient evidence that the pair knew the prostitutes were underaged.
99.
On 17 February 2016, the judicial review was lifted by the investigating judge who allowed Karim Benzema to get in touch again with Valbuena.
100.
On 11 July 2017, the Court of Cassation issued a judgment in which it invalidated a decision of the Court of Appeal of Versailles, which had validated the procedure by which Karim Benzema had been indicted for complicity of attempted blackmail.
101.
Karim Benzema will be definitively sentenced in this case in June 2022, after having abandoned the appeal procedure.
102.
In March 2020, during an Instagram livestream with YouTuber and internet personality Mohamed Henni, Karim Benzema made controversial remarks about French player Olivier Giroud, who replaced Karim Benzema in the France national team.
103.
Karim Benzema called Giroud "karting" while he referred to himself as "Formula 1".
104.
On 10 March 2023, France head coach Didier Deschamps stated in an interview with Le Parisien that he had told Karim Benzema following his injury prior to the 2022 FIFA World Cup that there was "no emergency" and that he could "organize his return" from injury with the team manager.
105.
Deschamps then claimed that Karim Benzema made the decision to leave the France team himself, saying "when I woke up, I learned that he had left".
106.
However, Karim Benzema responded on his Instagram story by reposting the Deschamps statement in the interview with the caption "but what audacity".
107.
Karim Benzema posted a further story of French Snapchat personality Ritchie repeating the phrase "liar, you are a liar".