Is Footballer Eden Hazard Muslim?

Eden Hazard, born Eden Michael Walter Hazard on January 7th 1991, is a professional footballer and soccer superstar. From playing for Chelsea FC, the Belgium national team to now Real Madrid, Eden is known for his sharp skills and attacking prowess, as much as he's known for his frequent fade haircuts.

Hazard is known off pitch for his prank-loving personality, but is this Belgian-born, fast-paced footballer a Muslim or is this simply a myth? It's time to explore.

Did Eden Hazard grow up in a Muslim family?

Eden Hazard spent his early years in a small city in Belgium called La Louivère. Surprisingly Eden has two parents who were both footballers themselves. Eden's father, Thierry, played semi-professionally for his home city and Eden's mother, Carine was a striker for the Belgian Women's First Division.

Eden has three other siblings, all brothers, two of whom are also professional footballers; Kylian and Thorgan. The latter brother plays with Eden in the Belgium national football team.

While both of Eden's parents are Christian, the city of La Louivère is known to be home to lots of Muslims originally from North Africa and so it's likely that Eden grew up around a strong Islamic culture both on the pitch and off it.

Eden Hazard's career success

Eden started his professional career playing for Ligue 1 side Lilla OSC but after wowing coaches and scouts worldwide, he made the move to London to play for Chelsea Football Club in June 2012.

At Chelsea, Eden won a huge number of accolades and was praised for his pace, skill and attacking flair. With Chelsea he won two UEFA Europa Leagues, the FA Cup, Premier League and Football League Cup.

At the same time, Eden was a key member of the Belgium national team and has scored a total of 33 goals for country in 126 appearances. He has played against other Muslim footballers including France's Kylian Mbappé.

In 2019, Eden decided to join Real Madrid and transferred for up to 150 million Euro, making it one of the largest signings in football history. However he has spent a lot of his time at Real fighting injury, much to his frustrating, and left Real in 2023. It is now rumoured that Eden will retire from professional football after this frustrating spell in Madrid.

So, is Eden Hazard a Muslim?

Eden Hazard's journey with Islam started later on in life. It is now known that he converted to Islam, despite the fact he is from a Christian household.

Eden's conversion moved into the spotlight when he was seen on pilgrimage in Mecca performing Hajj. He is also seen to mention the Islamic festive periods of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha on his social media accounts.

In recent statements, Hazard spoke to former Chelsea teammate Demba Ba about the religion and began reading the Quran more frequently.

So yes, it seems that Eden Hazard is a Muslim.

Controversy with Eden Hazard and Islam

In March 2023, after a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona, Hazard visited a famous restaurant in Spain called 'Meson de Candido'. According to the Instagram page of the restaurant, they thanked Eden for "stopping by to try our piglet".

Of course, pork is haram or forbidden in Islam, and this led to a backlash by Muslims questioning the sincerity of Hazard's Muslim faith.

📲 Eden Hazard enjoying his international retirement, he made a trip to Segovia to try the famous ‘Suckling Pig’ pic.twitter.com/kFIZ882tGA

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) March 21, 2023

So, by his own admission and public display of participating in significant Islamic rituals such as the Hajj, Hazard identifies as a Muslim. However, despite his controversies surrounding food, it is important to remember that only Allah can judge his servants for their actions and therefore ascertain their faith.