Benzema, who won the Ballon d’Or and missed the World Cup, announces retirement from the French national team

 2022 Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema (35, Real Madrid), who could not play at the Qatar World Cup due to injury, announced his retirement from the French national football team.

On the 19th, Benzema posted a photo of himself wearing a national team uniform on his social media 토토사이트 (SNS) and wrote, “I have made a lot of effort and mistakes to get to where I am today, and I am proud of it.” “I wrote my story and now the journey ends here.” .

Previously, Benzema won the Ballon d’Or, given to the player who performed the best of the year last October, leading his team to win the UEFA Champions League in the 2021-2022 season. He was also on the World Cup squad, but injured his thigh during training in Qatar and had to return home.

Following his recovery, he was known to be able to play after the tournament, but he did not play a single game in the end with his name up to the final entry. As the possibility of his return was predicted ahead of the final, rumors of discord arose. French coach Didier Deschamps dismissed reporters’ questions about whether to participate, and Benzema reportedly refused an invitation from President Macron to watch.

Benzema is a French striker who has scored 37 goals in 97 A matches while playing for the national team since 2007. But he had nothing to do with the World Cup. He did not make the final roster for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, and scored three goals in the 2014 tournament in Brazil, but only reached the quarterfinals. In 2015, after being tried for threatening his colleague with a sex video, he was effectively kicked out of the national team, and he had to watch outside the 2018 Russian tournament, which France won.

In response to his retirement announcement, Real Madrid’s official account responded with applause and a French flag emoji. The World Cup official account of the International Football Federation (FIFA) also wrote “Thank you Benzema.”