[스포티비뉴스=허윤수 기자] Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema (35, Real Madrid) announced his retirement from the French national team.
On the 19th (Korean time), Benzema posted a photo of himself wearing the uniform of the French representative on his social network service (SNS) and said, “I have made efforts and mistakes until I am today, and I am proud of it. I wrote my story and our story ends.”
Benzema, who went through the French age-specific national team, debuted in the A match in 2007. He continued to play an active role until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but he was not called up to the national team for a while due to the threat of Mathieu Balbuena.
He missed Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which France topped. Afterwards, Benzema, who played a big role in his team, succeeded in returning to his national team after about six years.
Benzema again failed to reach the top at Euro 2020, but relieved his regret by winning the 2020-21 European Football Federation (UEFA) Nations League (UNL).
In the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, he was selected as a member of the French national team to challenge for a second consecutive victory, but was unable to participate due to a thigh injury. He was not removed from the roster, but there were also reports that he would join after recovering, but it did not lead to his return.
Benzema took off the Les Bleu corps uniform, leaving a record of 37 points in 97 A matches.