Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker and is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time. ¹ The English article describes him as a practising Muslim who fasts in Ramadan; it names no school for him, so his data record leaves his faith as unknown. ¹

He was born on 19 December 1987 in Lyon, France, to French nationals of Algerian descent, and grew up with eight siblings in Bron, an eastern suburb of Lyon. ¹ He began playing at Bron Terraillon at the age of eight, scored two goals in an under-10 match against the Lyon youth academy, and joined Lyon's academy after a trial. ¹

He made his professional debut on 15 January 2005 against Metz and was part of Lyon's run of league titles. ¹ In 2007–08, as the team's lead striker, he scored 31 goals in 51 games, finished as Ligue 1 top scorer, helped Lyon win their first league and cup double, and was named Ligue 1 Player of the Year. ¹

On 1 July 2009 Lyon agreed his transfer to Real Madrid for €35 million, a then-French record. ¹ As part of the "BBC" trio with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale he helped Madrid to four Champions League titles between 2014 and 2018, and after Ronaldo's departure in 2018 he became the team's sole striker and later its captain. ¹ He won five Champions League titles and four La Liga titles with Madrid in all, became the club's second-highest goalscorer, finished as Champions League top scorer in his fifth title season, and won the Ballon d'Or and the UEFA Player of the Year award in 2022. ¹ In 2023 he signed for Saudi club Al-Ittihad, whom he captained to the 2024–25 Saudi Pro League title, according to the article. ¹

He made his senior debut for France in 2007 and earned 97 caps, scoring 37 goals. ¹ The article records that he was left out of the 2010 World Cup squad, and that after being implicated in a blackmail scandal in 2015 he did not play for France for over five years; he returned for Euro 2020, was part of the squad that finished runner-up at the 2022 World Cup without playing because of injury, and announced his international retirement in December 2022. ¹ In the blackmail case itself, a court in 2021 gave him a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine for complicity in attempted blackmail of his former teammate Mathieu Valbuena, as reported in coverage of the verdict; the museum records the verdict as reported and makes no judgement of its own. ¹

The English article's personal-life section calls him "a practicing Muslim" who "observes fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan", and quotes him saying: "My faith helps me to be focused every day. It brings me benefits and it's my strength for me, my family, as well as for my work – for literally everything." ¹ These are accounts of his practice and his own general words about faith as the source reports them, and no source used here names a school or madhhab for him. ¹

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