Nov. 8, 2023
By Ariston Nishevci
Staff Writer
The magical Eden Hazard sadly announced his retirement from soccer way too early on Oct. 10. After a spell of injuries at Real Madrid soccer club that landed him sidelined multiple times, he decided to call it quits.
Hazard began his career at French club LOSC Lille where he impressed a lot of people at 17 years old by winning Ligue 1 young player of the year and Ligue 1 player of the season. He also won one Ligue 1 title and one Coupe de France in the same season. He scored 50 goals and had 53 assists in his 194 appearances for Lille.
In 2012, Hazard made a big money move to English side Chelsea where he flourished. He was at his prime during those years at Chelsea, scoring 110 goals with 92 assists in 352 games. He won two Premier League titles, one during the 2014-2015 season and the other during the 2016-2017 season. He also won two Europa League titles, one in the 2012-2013 season and the other in the 2018-2019 season as well as one Football Association Cup in 2018. Hazard left Chelsea as not only a club legend but a Premier League legend. In my opinion, he could be in the conversation for top 15 in Premier League history.
Hazard left Chelsea in 2019 to join Real Madrid for a fee of $100 million. He started off well, but after getting his first injury that took him out for a month, he missed five games. That started a trend. Hazard could never string a run of more than five games together, which contributed to his decision to retire. It is unfortunate he didn’t try harder to get his body healthier and get back into the starting lineup.
Hazard left the soccer world as a legend and will be in the memory of many people, especially Belgians and Chelsea fans. I wish him a happy retirement.
For Belgium, his home country, he was a vital player. He kept the other team’s defenders on their toes, making amazing plays to create goals. He scored 33 goals and had 36 assists for Belgium in 126 appearances.
I was saddened when Hazard announced his retirement because he was an amazing player to watch. He was able to dribble past four or five players and set up a goal or even score it himself. He was nice to his fans, and outside of soccer, he was a likable guy.
Hazard’s retirement was not much of a shock due to his injuries, but no one expected him to retire this year. Thirty-two is a relatively young age for soccer players to retire. He was part of a generation of truly phenomenal soccer players, and he, like many others from his generation, have retired due to age or injuries.
Hazard left the soccer world as a legend and will be in the memory of many people, especially Belgians and Chelsea fans. I wish him a happy retirement.
I myself am a Liverpool fan, so I wouldn’t watch Hazard play too frequently, but whenever I did, he was always a joy to watch. Whenever he played against Liverpool, I felt nervous because I knew he could make anything happen.
Though Hazard was never too serious about his stats, I believe he could have been nominated for the most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or. The Ballon d’Or is an award given to the best player in the world for that season.
Hazard probably could have played two or three more seasons at a club in his native country, Belgium. However, at the end of the day, he felt that enough was enough, and I completely support his decision.
