The Day after France lost the FIFA World Cup final to Argentina, Ballon D’Or winner Karim Benzema announced his retirement from international football. He had to withdraw from the World Cup squad in Qatar due to a left thigh injury that he suffered during training.
In his surprise retirement announcement, the 35-year-old Real Madrid forward tweeted,
“I made the effort and the mistakes it took to be where I am today and I’m proud of it! I wrote my story and ours ends.”
J’ai fait les efforts et les erreurs qu’il fallait pour être là où je suis aujourd’hui et j’en suis fier !
J’ai écrit mon histoire et la nôtre prend fin. #Nueve pic.twitter.com/7LYEzbpHEs— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) December 19, 2022
Benzema won the Ballon d’Or award in October 2022 and was quite desperate to feature in this year’s FIFA World Cup. He was France’s top scorer at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The Real Madrid superstar was exiled from the national team for 5 and 1/2 years for his involvement in a sex tape scandal with former France teammate Mathieu Valbuena. Last year he was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and fined 75,000 euros ($79,500).
