Eden Michael Walter Hazard, 32 has officially announced his retirement from professional football. Having started his professional football in French club Lile in 2007, Eden Hazard kept showing signs of a great star who was made for the big stage and in no time, the entire footballing world was singing his name.
Hazard played over 190 games for Lile, having a 90 goals involvement for the French club. The litle Belgian winger was later sold to West London Premier League giants Chelsea for 32million pounds, a fee that would later seem as a bargain given the achievements he had at the English club.
During his spell at Lile, Eden Hazard won the Ligue 1 Young Player of The Year award, making him the first ever non-French international to do so. He went on to win it for the second time in the following season and in the 2010-11 season, he won the French League and also the League cup, which saw him winning the League 1 Player of The Year, thus becoming the youngest to win it too.
After joining Chealsea in 2012, Hazard went on to play seven seasons for the blues, winning multiple team and individual accolades, including two Europa League titles; 2012-13 and 2018-19, Premier League, 2014-15 and 2016-17, The FA Cup in 2016-17 among others.
Eden Hazard's magic skills on the ball saw him amass many individual awards for the time he spent at Chelsea. He won both Premier League Player of the Season and PFA Players' Player of the Season 2014-15, UEFA Europa League Player of the Season 2018-19, Chelsea's Player of the Season for 4years (2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2018-19) among many other awards.
After reaching his peak form in England, the Belgian star moved on to a new challenge, one that would have cemented his name among the greatest to have kicked the ball had the story continued as it was at Chelsea. Unfortunately, Hazard's fairytale remained in London!
On June 29/2019, Eden Hazard was announced as a Real Madrid player, having agreed to sign a contract with the Los Blancos, that would see him at the club till 2024. Madrid bought Hazard from Chelsea at a reported 100million Euros, which according to his form then, was worth it.
Hazard's Real Madrid career was the total opposite of what the Belgian had at Chelsea. It was filled with constant injuries, being unfit most of the times and thus missing playing time. Until his contract termination, Hazard played only 76 games for the Los Blancos, scoring only seven goals.
He however won the prestigious Champions league 2021-22, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup both in 2022, two Spanish La Liga titles 2019-20 and 2021-22, Copa del Rey 2022-23, despite spending most of the time in the sick bay or at the bench.
His announcement came in on his Instagram account, where he expressed gratitude for having achieved what he did achieve and also said it was time to enjoy his life while doing other things; ''I was able to realise my dream, I have played and had fun on many pitches around the world. During my career I was lucky to meet great managers, coaches and teammates - thank you to everyone for these great times, I will miss you all." reads part of his post - https://www.instagram.com/p/CyNmiecNerl/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
