Table of Biography
Karim Benzema is a French football player. Karim Benzema plays as a striker for and captains the Spanish La Liga club, Real Madrid, and the France national team.
Early Life and Childhood
Karim Benzema was born on the 19th of December 1987, in Lyon, France. As of his date of birth, he is 36 years old and his full name is Karim Mostafa Benzema. He holds a French nationality and has a horoscope of Sagittarius. Similarly, this football has his beliefs in the Muslim religion and belongs to the White French ethnicity.
Coming toward his parents, he is the son of Hafid Benzema (father) and Wahida Djebbara (mother). In the 1950s, his grandfather Da Lakehal Benzema migrated from Algeria to France. In addition, he has three brothers named Farid, Sabri, and Gressy, and five sisters named Laeticia, Lydia, Sofia, Celia, and Nafissa.
Caption: Karim Benzema childhood photo (Source: Liputan6.com)
When he was just eight years old, he began training football at the local club Bron Terraillon SC. Moreover, he gained attention from the football club, Lyon. In 1996, he joined Lyons Academy, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France. However, he did not attend any college. Moreover, he was more interested in sports rather than in studying.
Professional Career
Lyon
In 2004, Karim Benzema was promoted to Lyon’s first team. Initially, he began his early career on the bench and did not get much playing time. Despite only playing with the team during the autumn campaign, Benzema scored a team-high ten goals as the Lyon reserve team finished second in its group.
Through the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, he scored 31 and 23 goals respectively. Making him a prolific goalscorer. During his tenure in Lyon, he won four consecutive Ligue 1 titles becoming the top scorer in 2007-08.
In the 2007-08 season, he won Coupe de France and Trophee des Champions in 2006 and 2007. For the club, he scored a total of 66 goals in 148 appearances in all competitions during his spell at Lyon.
Real Madrid
In July 2009, he signed a deal with the Spanish club Real Madrid on a six-year deal for €35 million with the fee rising to as much as €41 million based on incentives. Moreover, he was presented grandly as the club presented Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
He was put as a substitute striker in his early seasons at the club. With his progress and performance through the later seasons, he earned his place in the club’s first team.
Caption: Karim Benzema playing for his club, Real Madrid (Source: Instagram)
In the year 2011, he won his first title as a Real Madrid player, Copa del Rey. Moreover, he established himself as one of the most influential players for Real Madrid. In Real Madrid, he played along with the world’s best footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul, and Gonzalo Higuain among several others.
Benzema has won four La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey titles, four Supercopa de Espana titles, five UEFA Champions League titles, four UEFA Super Cup titles, and FIFA Club World Cup titles with Real Madrid as of 2022. He finished his 2021-22 season with 323 goals in 605 appearances in all competitions.
In addition, he is the all-time top assist provider for the club and the fifth all-time top goalscorer. On the 10th of August 2022, he scored in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup against Eintracht Frankfurt and brought his tally to 324 goals, overtaking Raúl as Real Madrid’s all-time second-highest goalscorer.
International Career
This footballer has represented his country at different age levels including France’s U17, U18, U19, and U21 teams. In 2004, France’s U17 squad won the UEFA European U17 Football Championship and Benzema was also part of the team during that time.
In March 2007, he made his senior debut for France’s national team against Austria. He was just 19 years old when he made his senior international debut. In the same match, he scored his debut senior international goal. Later, he was listed on France’s squad for the UEFA Euro 2008. However, France was eliminated from the group stage.
Caption: Karim Benzema playing for his national team (Source: FourFourTwo)
Due to the reason of his involvement in the sex scandal, he was not included in France’s squad for the FIFA World 2010. Franck Ribery, Sidney Govou, Hatem Ben Arfa, including Benzema were four French internationals investigated for their roles as clients in a prostitute ring operated inside of a Paris nightclub, with some of the women possibly being underage.
The football star came back to the national team for the Euro Cup 2012 qualifiers and also made a place in France’s squad for the Euro Cup 2012. Moreover, he was a member of the France squad that reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
He was taken in the custody by French police in November 2015 for his alleged part in blackmailing fellow France international player Mathieu Valbuena over the alleged recording of a sex tape on a mobile phone. As a result, he was ultimately suspended from the France national team and was absent in UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Retirement from the national team
In 2021, he was finally permitted to be on the France squad. On the 2nd of June 2021, he made his retuned in a 3-0 home win over Wales, in a friendly warm-up match before the final tournament.
On the 13th of November 2021, he hit his debut goal in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers with a brace in an 8-0 win over Kazakhstan as France booked their place for Qatar 2022 which saw him overtake David Trezeguet to become Les Bleus’ fifth all-time top scorer with 35 goals.
Though he was listed in France’s final squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, on 19 November, the French Football Federation stated that Benzema would be forced to miss the tournament due to a thigh injury. On the 19th of December 2021, he announced his retirement from the national team.
Karim Benzema – Awards
Caption: Karim Benzema wins the Ballon d’Or (Source: Instagram)
In his footballing career, he has won both national, and international awards. With his team, he has helped his club, and national team to win several titles and trophies. As an individual, he won the Ballon d’Or (2022), Golden Player Man Award (2022), and UEFA Men’s Player of the Year (2021-2022).
He has won the French Player of the Year (2011, 2012, 2014, and 2021). Moreover, he was also the Member of Guinness World Records 2021: Player with the most consecutive seasons in the UEFA Champions League (qualified for and played in the competition without interruption since 2005).
Karim Benzema – Net Worth 2024
From his footballing, he has managed to earn a huge sum of money. In addition, his net worth is around $70 million and he earned around € 24,000,000 annually from his current club.
Meanwhile, his current transfer value is between €16.9 million and €28.2 million. This football star has endorsed brands like Adidas, Hyundai, EA Sports, Bwin and French companies like LCL (Le Crédit Lyonnais) and SFR (Société française du radiotéléphone). These brand endorsements also increased his net worth.
Relationship Status
Caption: Karim Benzema with his wife, Cora Gauthier (Source: Daily Star)
Back in 2016, Karim Benzema married model Cora Gauthier. With the marriage, the couple has two children: daughter Melia and son Ibrahim. In past, Benzwma was linked with Manon Marsault, Analicia Chaves, and singer Rihanna.
Controversies
He was dragged into several controversies and scandals. He along with Franck Ribery, Sidney Govou, and Hatem Ben Arfa was charged with solicitation of a minor prostitute in 2010.
Moreover, the case was dropped against both Ribery and Benzema saying there was insufficient evidence to prove that the pair knew the prostitutes were underage in the year 2014. He was arrested in 2015 by French police for his alleged part in blackmailing fellow French player Mathieu Valbuena.
Body Measurements
Caption: Karim Benzema during his training (Source: Instagram)
This football star stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs around 80 kg. Moreover, he has light brown eyes with dark brown hair color and his body measurement measures 42-33-15 inches.
Karim Benzema – Social Media
On his Instagram page ‘@karimbenzema’ there are over 65.8 million followers. Likewise, there are over 19.3 million followers on his Twitter page “@Benzema” and over 44 million on his Facebook page. He has a self-titled YouTube channel, there are over 539k subscribers as of its writing.