{"id":296259,"date":"2023-10-19T17:43:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T17:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=296259"},"modified":"2023-10-19T17:43:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T17:43:48","slug":"eden-hazard-i-didnt-have-fun-on-the-pitch-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/eden-hazard-i-didnt-have-fun-on-the-pitch-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Eden Hazard: &apos;I didn&apos;t have fun on the pitch anymore&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Eden Hazard reveals he retired because he &#8216;wasn&#8217;t having fun on the pitch&#8217; and &#8216;didn&#8217;t want to play somewhere for the money&#8217; following release by Real Madrid&#8230; after dazzling in Calais charity match<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Eden Hazard is at peace with himself after leaving professional football behind<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0The 32-year-old dazzled in Calais but was not enjoying his career anymore<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Eden Hazard\u00a0has revealed he made a &#8216;simple&#8217; decision to retire from football because he wasn&#8217;t enjoying playing anymore &#8211; and wasn&#8217;t eager to &#8216;play somewhere for the money&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old hung up his boots last week after leaving Real Madrid in the summer &#8211; with his contract being ripped up one year early.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday night, he revived his glory days with a vinage performance in a charity game in Calais, scoring once and setting up three goals.<\/p>\n<p>While he was all smiles for a low-pressure game alongside former icons of French football, including Robert Pires and Didier Deschamps, he explained that his heart was now elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I had always said that I would stop as soon as I didn&#8217;t have fun on the pitch anymore. I didn&#8217;t want to go and play somewhere for the money,&#8217; he told L&#8217;Avenir.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/00\/76731541-0-image-a-10_1697671032450.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Eden Hazard has explained he wasn&#8217;t enjoying his football anymore before retiring from football &#8211; following his glittering career<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/00\/76731537-0-image-a-11_1697671060345.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>An injury-hit four years at Real Madrid saw Hazard become a shell of his former Chelsea self<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/00\/76726407-0-It_seemed_like_Hazard_had_never_been_away_despite_his_quality_de-a-12_1697671114191.jpg\" height=\"392\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hazard rolled back the years with a fine display in a Calais charity match on Wednesday<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It was the best solution. I didn&#8217;t enjoy training anymore&#8230; And I wasn&#8217;t playing anymore. The decision was simple.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;In life, you can&#8217;t explain everything. I am at peace with myself. I&#8217;m happy.\u00a0I have so many things to do outside of football that I was able to make a serene choice.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said that playing for a Belgian club would have been a great story, but that there was a lot of &#8216;nonsense&#8217; reported during the transfer window.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hazard also revealed the emotions he feels towards Real Madrid &#8211; not all acrimony, as some might think. He said he met &#8216;amazing&#8217; people and &#8216;tasted the dream&#8217; playing for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His legacy will always be complex to unpack. He won five league titles across his career with Lille, Chelsea, and Real Madrid, as well as a Champions League, two Europa Leagues, and numerous domestic trophies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/00\/76372623-0-Hazard_was_instrumental_in_the_Blues_winning_multiple_titles_inc-a-14_1697671174714.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0He said he was &#8216;at peace&#8217; with his decision to leave behind professional football aged 32\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/00\/76723513-0-The_match_raised_roughly_12_900_for_a_charity_which_helps_kids_a-a-15_1697671221041.jpg\" height=\"454\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>While he said finishing with a Belgian club would have been a nice story, he has other things to do outside professional football &#8211; and enjoyed raising money for charity on Wednesday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/19\/00\/76722371-0-The_former_Chelsea_and_Belgium_favourite_converted_a_neat_finish-a-16_1697671287899.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The former Chelsea and Belgium favourite converted a neat finish for Varietes CF in Calais<\/p>\n<p>Individually, he was named the PFA Players&#8217; Player of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season during the 2014\u201315 campaign. His time at Chelsea brought 110 goals and 92 assists in 352 appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But he never took off in the Spanish capital. Across a four-season spell, he suffered 18 separate injuries and scored seven goals in 76 outings, a far cry from his shining productivity in London and Lille.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His fresh explanation for his retirement makes sense. Hazard was at his best when he played with joy and freedom &#8211; when that well dried up, football wasn&#8217;t the same for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday&#8217;s performance in Calais reminded us of the type of player Hazard was as he strutted his stuff alongside Pires, Deschamps, Yohan Cabaye, Christian Karembeu, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12647251\/Eden-Hazard-explains-retirement-saying-didnt-fun-pitch-anymore-things-outside-football-sparkling-Calais-charity-match.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eden Hazard reveals he retired because he &#8216;wasn&#8217;t having fun on the pitch&#8217; and &#8216;didn&#8217;t want to play somewhere for <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eden Hazard: &amp;apos;I didn&amp;apos;t have fun on the pitch anymore&amp;apos; - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/eden-hazard-i-didnt-have-fun-on-the-pitch-anymore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eden Hazard: &amp;apos;I didn&amp;apos;t have fun on the pitch anymore&amp;apos; 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