15 fun facts about Eden Hazard

Eden's mother, Carine and father, Thierry were both footballers.

Carine was a striker in the Belgian Women's First Division from age 20 to 26. When she was three months pregnant with Eden, she stopped playing and never resumed.

Thierry was a defensive midfielder for La Louviere in the Belgian Second Division.

Meanwhile, Eden is the eldest of the four brothers. His three brothers, Thorgan, Kylian, and Ethan, are all professional footballers.

Thorgan arrived at Chelsea in 2012, shortly after the Blues signed his brother Eden. Thorgan currently plays for Borussia Dortmund.

Kylian is currently playing in the Belgian First Division B, the second tier of Belgian football, for RWD Molenbeek, while Ethan is presently playing for the under-21 team of Tubize, Eden's former club.

Hazard had to wait for the commencement of the 2008-09 season to be promoted permanently to the first team.

On September 20, 2008, he was brought on as a substitute against Auxerre. With Lille trailing 2-1, Hazard was the difference-maker as he scored the equaliser in the 88th minute. Lille would win the game 3-2 thanks to Tulio de Melo's stoppage-time winner.

When Hazard made it 2-2 to score his first-ever senior goal, he became the club's youngest goal scorer ever at 17 years and 257 days.

Hazard became the youngest goal scorer in club history, but that did not warrant him a starting spot.

However, his name started appearing often on the team sheet in the second half of the season, and Lille benefitted as a result.

In games against Sochaux and Monaco, he scored and contributed to the winning goals, and in Coupe de France, he scored against Lyon to eliminate the reigning champions.

Later in the season, as it became more evident that Lille had a genuine diamond on their hands, he resumed his streak of scoring in crucial games with a goal against Marseille.

Hazard became the first international player to win the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award for his breakthrough and performance.

In the 2009-10 season, Hazard started garnering interest from some of the biggest clubs across Europe due to his influential displays in the Europa League.

But it was not just Europe where he was causing problems. In France, he picked up right where he left in his debut season and scored in games against Lens, Montpellier, and Le Mans to prove his mettle during the big games as Lille continued to push for the Ligue 1 title.

Les Dogues finished the Ligue 1 season in fourth place, just one point below Auxerre in the Champions League positions, but the developing forward had greater success personally.

He was up for both the league's Player and Young Player of the Award nominations, becoming the first to win the latter two seasons in a row while losing out on the former to Lyon's prolific goal scorer Lisandro Lopez.

The 2010-11 season did not begin best for Hazard. Early in the season, Rudi Garcia benched the player because he felt the team was suffering from his inconsistent play and that the player needed some time away from the pitch.

Hazard did not need much time to return to his best as he played a pivotal role in helping Lille win the league by an eight-point margin, playing in all 38 games and scoring seven goals and 11 assists.

“I learned a lot during those few weeks, mentally speaking. And since then, things have got better,” Hazard told FIFA.

Lille also beat PSG 1-0 in the Coupe de France final to clinch their first domestic double since 1946.

At the end of the season, Hazard was awarded the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award, becoming the youngest player in the competition's history to achieve this feat.

Hazard is passionate about basketball in addition to football. He enjoys watching the NBA and goes to games when he can in North America. The Belgian has even identified himself as a supporter of a particular team, the New York Knicks.

The Belgian's first-ever red card resulted from an altercation with a Swansea City ballboy, making it one of the more peculiar moments of his career.

On January 23, 2013, in a League Cup second-leg semi-final against Swansea City, he was sent off for kicking a ball out from beneath a ball boy, who was lying on it to waste time intentionally.

Chelsea went on to lose the game 2-0.

It was intriguing how the young man's identity was revealed in the days that followed the incident because he had previously promised to waste time during the game on his Twitter account.

Officials from the French Football Federation pursued Hazard before he made his Belgium debut for the national team because they wanted him to represent France since he had recently become eligible for citizenship.

However, Hazard decided to ignore the wooing.

"Because of my presence in France for seven years, I feel 99% Belgian and 1% French, but the idea of French citizenship has never crossed my mind," Hazard stated in an interview with French newspaper Le Soir.

Hazard scored his first-ever hat-trick at the senior level on February 8, 2014, when he scored all three goals in Chelsea's 3-0 win over Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge. He was aged 23.

Coincidentally, Cristiano Ronaldo also scored his career's first hat-trick at the age of 23, against the same opponents.

Ronaldo donned the #7 jersey at Real Madrid, where Hazard currently plays. He wears the #7 on his back, too.

When Hazard arrived at Real Madrid in the summer of 2019, he wasn't assigned a number during his presentation in front of 50,000 fans at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Having worn the #10 for both Chelsea and Belgium in the years preceding, Hazard requested Modric, the #10 holder at Madrid at the time, to allow him to wear the famous number, an offer which the Croatian rejected.

“I have been able to talk to Modric through [former Chelsea team-mate Mateo] Kovacic," Hazard said (h/t Evening Standard).

"I was joking when I asked him to lend me the number 10. He said no, so I’ll have to find another number."

On June 3, 2011, Belgium played Turkey in their UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifiers. Hazard started the game but was brought off after 60 minutes.

Instead of returning to the bench, the Belgian headed to the locker room instead, after being unhappy with his performance and substitution, and while the game was still going on, he and his family were seen on television eating hamburgers outside the stadium.

“The relish on that burger was my favourite… I still ask my Mum to bring me some over when she visits London. It was stupid thing to do - that whole incident with the hamburger… We still laugh about it now though. It made me a legend with the national team”, Hazard admitted in an interview with RTBF in 2019.

During Belgium's quarter-final against Brazil in the 2018 World Cup, which the former won 2-1, Hazard put on a stellar performance and was one of the protagonists in guiding the Red Devils to the semi-finals.

He attempted 10 dribbles with a 100% success rate. He recorded the most successful dribbles by a player in any World Cup game since 1966.

During his seven years at Chelsea (2012-2019), Hazard attempted (1441) and completed (909) dribbles, more than any other player in the Premier League during this period, boasting a success rate of 63.1%.

The Belgian also drew more fouls than any other player in the Premier League (638).

As good a dribbler as he was during his time in England, he was also the best playmaker in the league.

In fact, Hazard's total of 595 chances created was the most by any Premier League player since the start of the 2012–13 season till the end of the 2018-19 season, surpassing prominent playmakers like David Silva, Mesut Ozil, and Christian Eriksen.

Zidane had a big influence on the young Hazard.

Hazard had a France national team shirt with Zidane's name and number on the back and grew up idolising Zizou.

Prior to Hazard joining Real Madrid, Zidane expressed his admiration for the Belgian's style of play.

"Eden is technically gifted and very fast. He will be a major star in the future. I would take him to Real Madrid with my eyes closed," Zidane revealed in an interview with MARCA in 2010.

Then, in 2015, Zidane once again declared his love for Hazard.

"After Messi and Ronaldo, Hazard is my favourite player. It is spectacular to see him play," Sky Sports quoted the French legend as saying.

“It is always nice to hear that the player I admired during my childhood speaking about me,” Hazard told Belgian newspaper La Gazette in 2016 when asked how he felt about Zidane complimenting him.

“I have always appreciated Zidane. I know about him as a player but not so much as a coach, although he has had a very successful debut at the Bernabeu.

As luck would have it, Zidane was the Real Madrid manager when Hazard arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2019 and the duo worked together till the end of the 2020-21 season, following which Zidane announced that he'd be leaving the club.

Along with Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, and Moussa Sow, Hazard acquired a stake in San Diego 1904 FC, an expansion team in the North American Soccer League (second division of U.S. football at the time) that would make its debut in 2018.

“San Diego is a beautiful place and the love and passion the people have for soccer made this an easy choice for us,” Hazard said.

“My friends and I are honored to turn this dream into a reality and we can’t wait to get started and win some games.”

However, the club was absorbed by Albion San Diego in December 2021.