title: Roman numerals

text: Another system was the "vinculum", in which conventional Roman numerals were multiplied by 1,000 by adding a "bar" or "overline". It was a common alternative to the apostrophic ↀ during the Imperial era: both systems were in simultaneous use around the Roman world (M for '1000' was not in use until the Medieval period).


title: Roman numerals

text: The use of "vinculum" for multiples of 1,000 can be observed, for example, on the milestones erected by Roman soldiers along the Antonine Wall in the mid-2nd century AD. The "vinculum" for marking 1,000s continued in use in the Middle Ages, though it became known more commonly as "titulus".


title: Roman numerals

text: Some modern sources describe the "vinculum" as if it were a part of the current "standard". However, this is purely hypothetical, since no common modern usage requires numbers larger than the current year (). Nonetheless, here are some examples, to give an idea of how it "might" be used:


title: Roman numerals

text: This use of lines is distinct from the custom, once very common, of adding both underline and overline (or very large serifs) to a Roman numeral, simply to make it clear that it "is" a number, e.g.


title: Roman numerals

text: Another medieval usage was the addition of "vertical" lines (or brackets) before and after the numeral to multiply it by 10: thus ' for 10,000 as an alternative form for '. In combination with the overline the bracketed forms might be used to raise the multiplier to ten thousand, thus:


title: Roman numerals

text: This same syntax may also have indicated multiplication by 100 so the above two examples are 800,000 and 2,000,000.


title: Roman numerals

text: The system is closely associated with the ancient city-state of Rome and the Empire that it created. However, due to the scarcity of surviving examples, the origins of the system are obscure and there are several competing theories, all largely conjectural.


title: Roman numerals

text: Rome was founded sometime between 850 and 750 BC. At the time, the region was inhabited by diverse populations of which the Etruscans were the most advanced. The ancient Romans themselves admitted that the basis of much of their civilization was Etruscan. Rome itself was located next to the southern edge of the Etruscan domain, which covered a large part of north-central Italy.


title: Roman numerals

text: The Roman numerals, in particular, are directly derived from the Etruscan number symbols: , , , , and for 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 (They had more symbols for larger numbers, but it is unknown which symbol represents which number). As in the basic Roman system, the Etruscans wrote the symbols that added to the desired number, from higher to lower value. Thus the number 87, for example, would be written 50 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 1 + 1 = 𐌣𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠 (this would appear as 𐌠𐌠𐌡𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌣 since Etruscan was written from right to left.)


title: Roman numerals

text: The symbols and resembled letters of the Etruscan alphabet, but , , and did not. The Etruscans used the subtractive notation, too, but not like the Romans. They wrote 17, 18, and 19 as 𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌢, 𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌢, and 𐌠𐌢𐌢, mirroring the way they spoke those numbers ("three from twenty", etc.); and similarly for 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, etc. However, they did not write 𐌠𐌡 for 4 (nor 𐌢𐌣 for 40), and wrote 𐌡𐌠𐌠, 𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠 and 𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠 for 7, 8, and 9, respectively.


title: Roman numerals

text: The early Roman numerals for 1, 10, and 100 were the Etruscan ones: , , and . The symbols for 5 and 50 changed from and to and at some point. The latter had flattened to (an inverted T) by the time of Augustus, and soon afterwards became identified with the graphically similar letter .


title: Roman numerals

text: The symbol for 100 was written variously as or , and was then abbreviated to or , with (which matched the Latin letter "C") finally winning out. It might have helped that "C" was the initial letter of "CENTUM", Latin for "hundred".


title: Roman numerals

text: The numbers 500 and 1000 were denoted by or overlaid with a box or circle. Thus 500 was like a superimposed on a . It became or by the time of Augustus, under the graphic influence of the letter . It was later identified as the letter ; an alternative symbol for "thousand" was a , and half of a thousand or "five hundred" is the right half of the symbol, , and this may have been converted into .


title: Roman numerals

text: The notation for 1000 was a circled or boxed : Ⓧ, , , and by Augustinian times was partially identified with the Greek letter "phi". Over time, the symbol changed to and . The latter symbol further evolved into , then , and eventually changed to under the influence of the Latin word "mille" "thousand".


title: Roman numerals

text: According to Paul Kayser, the basic numerical symbols were , , and (or ) and the intermediate ones were derived by taking half of those (half an is , half a is and half a is ).


title: Roman numerals

text: The Colosseum was constructed in Rome in CE 72–80, and while the original perimeter wall has largely disappeared, the numbered entrances from (23) to (54) survive, to demonstrate that in Imperial times Roman numerals had already assumed their classical form: as largely standardised in current use. The most obvious anomaly (a common one that persisted for centuries) is the inconsistent use of subtractive notation - while is used for 40, is avoided in favour of : in fact gate 44 is labelled .


title: Roman numerals

text: Lower case, or "minuscule", letters were developed in the Middle Ages, well after the demise of the Western Roman Empire, and since that time lower-case versions of Roman numbers have also been commonly used: , , , , and so on.


title: Roman numerals

text: Since the Middle Ages, a "" has sometimes been substituted for the final "" of a "lower-case" Roman numeral, such as "" for 3 or "" for 7. This "" can be considered a swash variant of "". Into the early 20th century, the use of a final "" was still sometimes used in medical prescriptions to prevent tampering with or misinterpretation of a number after it was written.


title: Roman numerals

text: Numerals in documents and inscriptions from the Middle Ages sometimes include additional symbols, which today are called "medieval Roman numerals". Some simply substitute another letter for the standard one (such as "" for "", or "" for ""), while others serve as abbreviations for compound numerals ("" for "", or "" for ""). Although they are still listed today in some dictionaries, they are long out of use.


title: Roman numerals

text: Chronograms, messages with dates encoded into them, were popular during the Renaissance era. The chronogram would be a phrase containing the letters , , , , , , and . By putting these letters together, the reader would obtain a number, usually indicating a particular year.


title: Roman numerals

text: By the 11th century, Arabic numerals had been introduced into Europe from al-Andalus, by way of Arab traders and arithmetic treatises. Roman numerals, however, proved very persistent, remaining in common use in the West well into the 14th and 15th centuries, even in accounting and other business records (where the actual calculations would have been made using an abacus). Replacement by their more convenient "Arabic" equivalents was quite gradual, and Roman numerals are still used today in certain contexts. A few examples of their current use are:


title: Roman numerals

text: In astronautics, United States rocket model variants are sometimes designated by Roman numerals, e.g. Titan I, Titan II, Titan III, Saturn I, Saturn V.


title: Roman numerals

text: In astronomy, the natural satellites or "moons" of the planets are traditionally designated by capital Roman numerals appended to the planet's name. For example, Titan's designation is Saturn .


title: Roman numerals

text: In chemistry, Roman numerals are often used to denote the groups of the periodic table. They are also used in the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, for the oxidation number of cations which can take on several different positive charges. They are also used for naming phases of polymorphic crystals, such as ice.


title: Roman numerals

text: In education, school grades (in the sense of year-groups rather than test scores) are sometimes referred to by a Roman numeral; for example, "grade " is sometimes seen for "grade 9".


title: Roman numerals

text: In entomology, the broods of the thirteen and seventeen year periodical cicadas are identified by Roman numerals.


title: Roman numerals

text: In law, Roman numerals are commonly used to help organize legal codes as part of an alphanumeric outline.


title: Roman numerals

text: In advanced mathematics (including trigonometry, statistics, and calculus), when a graph includes negative numbers, its quadrants are named using , , , and . These quadrant names signify positive numbers on both axes, negative numbers on the X axis, negative numbers on both axes, and negative numbers on the Y axis, respectively. The use of Roman numerals to designate quadrants avoids confusion, since Arabic numerals are used for the actual data represented in the graph.


title: Roman numerals

text: In military unit designation, Roman numerals are often used to distinguish between units at different levels. This reduces possible confusion, especially when viewing operational or strategic level maps. In particular, army corps are often numbered using Roman numerals (for example the American XVIII Airborne Corps or the WW2-era German III Panzerkorps) with Arabic numerals being used for divisions and armies.


title: Roman numerals

text: In pharmacy, Roman numerals were used with the now largely obsolete apothecaries' system of measurement: including to denote "one half" and to denote "zero".


title: Roman numerals

text: In photography, Roman numerals (with zero) are used to denote varying levels of brightness when using the Zone System.


title: Roman numerals

text: In seismology, Roman numerals are used to designate degrees of the Mercalli intensity scale of earthquakes.


title: Roman numerals

text: In sport the team containing the "top" players and representing a nation or province, a club or a school at the highest level in (say) rugby union is often called the "1st ", while a lower-ranking cricket or American football team might be the "3rd ".


title: Roman numerals

text: In theology and biblical scholarship, the Septuagint is often referred to as , as this translation of the Old Testament into Greek is named for the legendary number of its translators ("septuaginta" being Latin for "seventy").


title: Roman numerals

text: Some uses that are rare or never seen in English speaking countries may be relatively common in parts of continental Europe and in other regions (e.g. Latin America) that use a European language other than English. For instance:


title: Roman numerals

text: Capital or small capital Roman numerals are widely used in Romance languages to denote , e.g. the French ' and the Spanish ' mean "18th century". Slavic languages in and adjacent to Russia similarly favor Roman numerals (). On the other hand, in Slavic languages in Central Europe, like most Germanic languages, one writes "18." (with a period) before the local word for "century".


title: Roman numerals

text: Mixed Roman and Arabic numerals are sometimes used in numeric representations of dates (especially in formal letters and official documents, but also on tombstones). The is written in Roman numerals, while the day is in Arabic numerals: "4..1789" and ".4.1789" both refer unambiguously to 4 June 1789.


title: Roman numerals

text: Roman numerals are sometimes used to represent the in hours-of-operation signs displayed in windows or on doors of businesses, and also sometimes in railway and bus timetables. Monday, taken as the first day of the week, is represented by . Sunday is represented by . The hours of operation signs are tables composed of two columns where the left column is the day of the week in Roman numerals and the right column is a range of hours of operation from starting time to closing time. In the example case (left), the business opens from 10 AM to 7 PM on weekdays, 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays. Note that the listing uses 24-hour time.


title: Roman numerals

text: Roman numerals may also be used for floor numbering. For instance, apartments in central Amsterdam are indicated as 138-, with both an Arabic numeral (number of the block or house) and a Roman numeral (floor number). The apartment on the ground floor is indicated as .


title: Roman numerals

text: In Italy, where roads outside built-up areas have kilometre signs, major roads and motorways also mark 100-metre subdivisionals, using Roman numerals from to for the smaller intervals. The sign thus marks 17.9 km.


title: Roman numerals

text: Certain romance-speaking countries use Roman numerals to designate assemblies of their national legislatures. For instance, the composition of the Italian Parliament from 2018 to 2022 (elected in the 2018 Italian general election) is called the XVIII Legislature of the Italian Republic (or more commonly the "XVIII Legislature").


title: Roman numerals

text: A notable exception to the use of Roman numerals in Europe is in Greece, where Greek numerals (based on the Greek alphabet) are generally used in contexts where Roman numerals would be used elsewhere.


title: Roman numerals

text: The "Number Forms" block of the Unicode computer character set standard has a number of Roman numeral symbols in the range of code points from U+2160 to U+2188. This range includes both upper- and lowercase numerals, as well as pre-combined characters for numbers up to 12 (Ⅻ or ). One justification for the existence of pre-combined numbers is to facilitate the setting of multiple-letter numbers (such as VIII) on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text. The Unicode standard, however, includes special Roman numeral code points for compatibility only, stating that "[f]or most purposes, it is preferable to compose the Roman numerals from sequences of the appropriate Latin letters".


title: Roman numerals

text: The block also includes some "apostrophus" symbols for large numbers, an old variant of "L" (50) similar to the Etruscan character, the Claudian letter "reversed C", etc.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, Hazard is considered one of the best players of his generation.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard is the son of two former footballers and began his career in Belgium playing for local youth clubs. In 2005, he moved to France, where he began his senior career with Ligue 1 club Lille. Hazard spent two years in the club's academy and, at the age of 16, made his professional debut in November 2007. He became an integral part of the Lille team under manager Rudi Garcia. In his first full season, he became the first non-French player to win the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award, and the following season became the first player to win the award twice. In the 2010–11 season, he was a part of the Lille team that won the league and cup double and, as a result of his performances, was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, the youngest player to win the award.


title: Eden Hazard

text: After making over 190 appearances and scoring 50 goals for Lille, Hazard signed for English club Chelsea in June 2012. He won the UEFA Europa League in his first season and the PFA Young Player of the Year in his second. In the 2014–15 season, Hazard helped Chelsea win the League Cup and Premier League, earning him the FWA Footballer of the Year and the PFA Players' Player of the Year awards. Two years later he won his second English league title as Chelsea won the 2016–17 Premier League. In 2018, he won the FA Cup, and was named in the FIFA FIFPro World XI. He won the Europa League again with Chelsea in June 2019. At Chelsea, Hazard established himself as one of the best players in the world. He joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2019 in a transfer worth up to €150 million, making it one of the highest transfer fees ever, however continuous injuries resulted in Hazard playing a limited amount of games and declining in performances.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Having represented his country at various youth levels, Hazard made his senior debut for the Belgium national team in November 2008, aged 17, in a friendly match against Luxembourg. Nearly three years after his debut, Hazard scored his first international goal against Kazakhstan in October 2011. He has since earned over 126 caps, and was a member of the Belgian squad which reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, and UEFA Euro 2020. At the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he captained Belgium to third place which was their best finish in history, receiving the Silver Ball as the second-best player of the tournament. From 2015 to 2022, he served as the captain of the team, including the time Belgium topped the FIFA men's ranking for the first time, which became the longest continuous reign of any European team.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard was born in La Louvière and grew up in Braine-le-Comte. His mother Carine, and father Thierry, were both footballers. His father spent most of his career at semi-professional level with La Louvière in the Belgian Second Division, playing mainly as a defensive midfielder. His mother played as a striker in the Belgian Women's First Division and stopped playing when she was three months pregnant with Eden. After playing football, both parents became sports teachers. Thierry retired from his position in 2009 in order to devote more time to his children.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard is the eldest of four children. He has three brothers, all of whom play football, including Thorgan, who joined him at Chelsea in 2012 but then moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2015 and further to Borussia Dortmund in 2019. Thorgan had previously progressed through the youth ranks of Lille's biggest rivals Lens. Hazard's other younger brothers are Kylian and Ethan. On 15 July 2013, Kylian joined White Star Bruxelles, but then went on to play for Hungarian side Újpest, before also joining Chelsea, while Ethan remains playing in the youth academy of Eden's former club Tubize.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard and his three brothers were raised in a comfortable environment with their parents ensuring they had whatever they needed to excel. The family lived "no more than three metres" from a football training ground and the brothers often ventured onto a training pitch through a small hole in order to hone and develop their skills. Growing up his idol was French playmaker Zinedine Zidane, with Hazard "watching him on television and online for hours."


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard began his football career playing for his hometown club Royal Stade Brainois at the age of four. During his time at the club, one of his youth coaches described him as a "gifted" player. He added: "He knew everything. I had nothing to teach him". Hazard spent eight years at the club before moving to A.F.C. Tubize. While at Tubize, he was spotted by a Lille scout while playing in a local tournament with the club. The scout's subsequent report on the player prompted club officials to meet with Hazard's father and offer the young player an "aspirant" (youth) contract.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard's parents accepted the offer from Lille head of academy Jean-Michel Vandamme with hopes that the training facilities in France would be better. Hazard's father later admitted that the decision to let Eden and, later Thorgan, join clubs in the North of France was the best solution stating "They remained so close to home and, at the same time, they integrated at structures where they could grow, because in Belgium, unfortunately, it's a little empty for the training of youth".


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard joined Lille in 2005 and spent two years developing in the club's local sports school, due to its youth academy in Luchin not being in operation at that time. On 28 May 2007, he signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal with Lille. At the start of the 2007–08 season, at the age of 16, Hazard was promoted to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur, the fourth level of French football, though he still played with Lille's under-18 team in its league and the Coupe Gambardella. Hazard made his amateur debut on 1 September 2007 in a league match against Racing Club de France appearing as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 defeat. He made his first start a week later in the team's 1–0 defeat to Lesquin.


title: Eden Hazard

text: After spending the majority of October and the early part of November playing with the club's under-18 team, on 14 November, due to several players being on international duty, Hazard was called up to the senior team by manager Claude Puel to participate in a friendly match against Belgian club Bruges on 16 November. He appeared as a substitute in the match and, as a result of his performance, was included in the 18-man squad to face Nancy in a league match on 24 November, where he subsequently made his professional debut in the match, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard returned to the club's reserve team and spent December playing with the squad. Following the winter break, Hazard returned to the first team in January and made substitute appearances in three league matches against Metz, Sochaux, and Paris Saint-Germain. Following the match against PSG, he was demoted back to amateur level where he played concurrently with the reserve team in the fourth division and the under-18 team in the Coupe Gambardella. On 17 May 2008, he scored his first amateur goal in a 3–2 victory over Vitré. Hazard finished his amateur career with 11 appearances and one goal, helping the reserve team finished in fifth place, which was first among professional clubs' reserve teams playing in the group.


title: Eden Hazard

text: For the 2008–09 season, Hazard was given the number 26 shirt after playing with the number 33 shirt in his debut season. He was also promoted to the senior team permanently by new manager Rudi Garcia. Early on, he made substitute appearances regularly, including against Auxerre on 20 September, when he scored a goal to make it 2–2 in the 88th minute in a game Lille won 3–2 in injury time following a goal from Tulio de Melo. Hazard's first career goal resulted in him becoming the youngest goalscorer in the club's history. Four days after scoring his first goal, Hazard made his first senior start in a 4–2 defeat on penalties to Montpellier in the Coupe de la Ligue. After featuring as a substitute in the team's next five league matches, on 15 November, Hazard started his first league game against Saint-Étienne, and capped the appearance by scoring the opening goal in the club's 3–0 victory. His assured performances with the club resulted in Lille offering him a three-year contract extension, which he agreed to on 18 November 2008, tying him to the club until 2012.


title: Eden Hazard

text: After featuring as a substitute in December, Hazard returned to the starting lineup in January. In February, he scored the match-winning goal in a league match against Sochaux. In the Round of 16 of the Coupe de France, Hazard netted a goal in a 3–2 win over the competition's defending champions Lyon. In the final ten league matches of the campaign, Hazard started eight and contributed to the team finishing in fifth place, which resulted in Lille qualifying for the newly created UEFA Europa League. After the season, he was named the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) Young Player of the Year, becoming the first international player to achieve the honour.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Following the 2008–09 season, constant media speculation occurred in numerous countries regarding Hazard's availability on the transfer market. Despite Lille chairman Michel Seydoux declaring the player off limits and Hazard stating that he wanted to remain at the club for at least another season, several clubs declared interest in the player. These included English clubs Arsenal and Manchester United, Italian club Inter Milan, and Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. Frenchman Zinedine Zidane personally recommended the player to the latter club.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard began the 2009–10 season on a positive note scoring in Lille's first competitive match of the season. The goal, contributing to the team's 2–0 victory, came against Serbian club FK Sevojno in the first leg of the club's third qualifying round match in the UEFA Europa League. On 27 August, he scored his second career European goal in the club's second leg tie in the playoff round against Belgian club Genk. It was Lille's final goal in the club's 4–2 victory. The 6–3 aggregate scoreline assured the club progression to the Europa League group stage.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 22 October, Hazard scored a goal in Lille's important 3–0 victory over Italian club Genoa in the 84th minute after entering as a substitute 10 minutes prior. Upon receiving the ball on the left wing, Hazard proceeded to dash through the midfield dribbling past six Genoa defenders before finishing at the 18-yard box. A month later, Hazard was instrumental in Lille's 5–1 thrashing of Czech club Slavia Prague as he was partly responsible for the opening goal– slicing through the defense and delivering a cross near post, which went off Slavia player Marek Suchý resulting in an own goal.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 20 December, Hazard scored his first league goal of the season in the club's 3–0 win over Le Mans, as well as assisting the other two. On 30 January, Hazard scored the only goal in Lille's win over Derby du Nord rivals Lens. Five days later, Hazard and Lille reached an agreement on a contract extension, which will keep the player at the club until 2014. On 11 March, Hazard scored the only goal in Lille's victory over English club Liverpool in the first leg of the club's UEFA Europa League tie converting a free kick in the 83rd minute. Three weeks later, Hazard provided two assists in the club's 4–1 win over title rivals Montpellier. For his impressive displays in the month of March, Hazard was given the UNFP Player of the Month award.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 29 April, Hazard was nominated for the UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Year award. He was also nominated, for the second consecutive season, for the Young Player of the Year award. On 9 May, Hazard was awarded the UNFP Young Player of the Year trophy for the second consecutive season. He became the first player since its inception in 1994 to win the award twice. Hazard lost out on the Player of the Year award, which was awarded to Lyon striker Lisandro López.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard began the 2010–11 campaign as a starter featuring in Lille's first six league matches of the season, as well as matches in the Europa League. On 29 August, he scored his first goal of the season in a 1–1 draw with Nice. In late September, Hazard began to struggle with inconsistency and was benched by Garcia in an effort to "allow him to breathe and learn that his performances were insufficient". Hazard later admitted that his first bout of inconsistency affected him stating "The first two months were a bit tough. I wouldn't say that I began doubting my abilities, but I definitely went through a really patchy spell".


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 7 October, Belgium national team manager Georges Leekens, citing Hazard's recent spell on the bench at Lille, said that the player needed to work harder, both physically and mentally, to regain his past year's form. The team's assistant coach, Marc Wilmots, also stated that Hazard often displayed a lazy mentality while training with the national team. Garcia responded to Leekens comments the following day stating that he thought they were "excessive" and that "Eden is only 19 years old" and can still "make more progress in all areas." Following Belgium's match against Kazakhstan, in which Hazard failed to start or even appear on the substitute's bench, Leekens responded to Garcia's comments declaring that he would stand by his previous comments and that players must think about the team and not themselves. Hazard, himself, later reflected on Leekens and Garcia comments in February 2011 stating "I learned a lot during those few weeks, mentally speaking. And since then things have got better. The national side has had a fair bit to do with that – I get a lot out of being a part of it".


title: Eden Hazard

text: Following the international break, he scored his second league goal of the season in a 3–1 win against the league leaders Brest. On 21 November, Hazard assisted both Lille's goals in a 2–1 win over Monaco. The victory continued the club's domestic unbeaten streak, which led to Lille topping the league table following an emphatic 6–3 victory against Lorient on 5 December. At the turn of the calendar year, Hazard scored in the team's first match against amateur club Forbach in the Coupe de France. Lille won the match 3–1. In the team's following match, he assisted goals scored by Moussa Sow and Gervinho in a 2–0 league victory over Nice.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 19 January, Hazard scored the second goal in a 3–0 victory over Nancy. On 4 March, Lille officials confirmed that Hazard had signed a new contract until 2015, a deal which also made him the highest paid player in Ligue 1. In his first match after the news, Hazard scored the opening goal in Lille's 2–1 away win over title rivals Marseille. The goal was scored on a left-footed shot from almost out and was clocked at . On 2 April, Hazard capped his 100th league appearance with Lille by scoring the second goal in a 3–1 win over Caen. The goal tied his career-high for goals in a season and also moved Lille eight points clear at the top of the league table. For his performances in the month of March, Hazard was named the UNFP Player of the Month for the second time in his career. On 19 April, after appearing as a first-half substitute, he scored the opening goal in Lille's 2–0 Coupe de France semi-final victory over Nice. The victory inserted the club into the 2011 Coupe de France Final; the club's first appearance in the competition's final since 1955. On 7 May, Hazard converted a game-winning free-kick goal in the team's 1–0 win over Nancy. Three days later, he was nominated for the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In the Coupe de France final, Hazard played 89 minutes as Lille defeated PSG 1–0 at the Stade de France. A week later, Lille clinched the Ligue 1 title by drawing 2–2 away to PSG, achieving the club's first league championship since the 1953–54 season and the club's first double since the 1945–46 season. The domestic cup and league title were the first two honours in Hazard's career. On the day after Lille won the league, Hazard was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year becoming the youngest player ever to win the award. He was also rewarded with a place in the Team of the Year for the second consecutive season.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Ahead of the 2011–12 season, Hazard switched to the number 10 shirt. In Lille's first competitive match of the season against Marseille in the 2011 Trophée des Champions, Hazard scored the team's second goal, which put Lille up 2–0. Marseille would later come back to win the match 5–4. On 10 September, he scored two goals in a 3–1 away victory against Saint-Étienne. Fours days after, Hazard made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 2–2 group stage draw with Russian club CSKA Moscow.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In Lille's next league match following his Champions League debut, he converted a penalty in a 2–2 draw with Sochaux. Three days after, Hazard scored the equalizing goal in a 1–1 draw against Bordeaux. After going over two months without scoring a league goal, on 3 December, Hazard came on as a substitute and scored the match-winning goal in a win over Ajaccio converting a penalty—described as an "Antonín Panenka-style chipped penalty". Two days later, Hazard was among several players nominated for UEFA's Team of the Year for the 2011 calendar year. In Lille's final match before the winter break, Hazard tied his career-high for league goals in a season by scoring the team's third goal in a 4–4 draw with Nice. After scoring the goal, Hazard celebrated by paying tribute to Molami Bokoto, a former Lille youth academy player who had died a day prior. On 3 March, Hazard scored both goals in a 2–2 draw with Auxerre.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 18 March, Hazard scored a goal and assisted two others in a 4–0 win over local rivals Valenciennes. In Lille's next match against Evian, Hazard converted a penalty and assisted a goal by Dimitri Payet in a 3–0 win. The following week, on 1 April, Hazard converted a first-half penalty and later assisted another Payet goal to cap a 2–1 victory over Toulouse. On 15 April, Hazard marked his 100 consecutive Ligue 1 appearance, which to date, is the longest current run in the French top flight, by scoring a goal and assisting on another in a 4–1 win over Ajaccio. On 29 April, in a vital league fixture against PSG, he converted his ninth penalty of the season to draw the match at 1–1 cancelling out a goal from Javier Pastore. Hazard later contributed to Lille's game-winning goal after delivering a "rabona"-style cross into the box, which was laid onto the path of striker Nolan Roux who, subsequently, converted the goal to give Lille a 2–1 win.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 28 April, for the third consecutive season, Hazard was nominated for the Player of the Year award. Two weeks later, he was awarded the prestigious honour ahead of the likes of Olivier Giroud and Younès Belhanda. After capturing the award, Hazard became the second player in the awards' history after former PSG striker Pauleta to achieve the honour in consecutive seasons. He was also included in the Team of the Year for the third straight season. On 20 May, Hazard appeared in his final match as a Lille player against Nancy, the club he had made his professional debut against. In the match, Hazard scored his first hat-trick in a 4–1 win.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 4 June 2012, Chelsea officially confirmed on its website that the club had agreed terms with Lille for the transfer of Hazard. The midfielder agreed personal terms with the club and passed a medical examination. The transfer fee was reported to be priced at £32 million. Upon signing, Hazard told the club's official website "I'm delighted to finally arrive here. It's a wonderful club and I can't wait to get started". Hazard was given the number 17, which was previously worn by José Bosingwa.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 12 August 2012, Hazard made his debut for Chelsea in the 2012 FA Community Shield against Manchester City, which ended in a 3–2 defeat at Villa Park. A week later, he made his league debut against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium. In the contest, Hazard provided the assist for Branislav Ivanović's opening goal and, minutes later, won a penalty, which Frank Lampard converted, earning his side a 2–0 victory. He made his Stamford Bridge debut in the team's next fixture, against Reading on 22 August, he won another penalty from which Lampard converted. Hazard also assisted goals by Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanović as Chelsea won 4–2 at Stamford Bridge. Three days later, Hazard scored his first goal as a Chelsea player in a league match against Newcastle United after scoring a penalty. Chelsea won the match 2–0.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard made his Champions League debut for Chelsea in the team's opening group stage game against Juventus. During December, he scored in back-to-back games, in a 5–1 away victory over Leeds United in the League Cup, and an 8–0 league win against Aston Villa. In January 2013, Hazard scored a goal with his left-foot from 25 yards in Chelsea's 4–0 win over Stoke City, as Chelsea inflicted the first home defeat of the season on Stoke. He scored again in the following game, with an impressive strike from the edge of the area in a 2–2 draw at home to Southampton.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 23 January, he was sent off in the Football League Cup semi-final second leg game against Swansea City for kicking a ball out from underneath a ball boy who was lying on it in order to waste time. Chelsea went on to lose the tie 2–0. Thereafter, he told Chelsea TV that he "apologised and the boy apologised" to each other. It was later revealed that the 17-year-old ball boy had planned before the game to deliberately waste time. On 9 February, he scored on his return from suspension in a 4–1 win at home against Wigan Athletic.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 21 February, Hazard came on as a substitute against Sparta Prague and scored an individual goal in stoppage time, to send Chelsea through to the last 16 on a 2–1 aggregate score. Again Hazard came off the bench to make an impact for Chelsea, scoring a goal and providing an assist to Ramires, as the Blues came back 2–0 down to salvage a 2–2 draw against Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on 10 March, setting up a replay at Stamford Bridge. On 17 March, Hazard put in a Man of the Match performance at Stamford Bridge in a 2–0 victory over West Ham United, assisting Lampard's 200th Chelsea goal, then scoring a solo goal. On 11 May, at Villa Park, Hazard was the provider of Lampard's brace against Aston Villa, which enabled Lampard to break Bobby Tambling's all-time goal scoring record for Chelsea. However an injury picked up in the same game ruled him out of the Europa League Final. Hazard ended his debut campaign at Chelsea with 13 goals in all competitions.


title: Eden Hazard

text: One of Chelsea's first games of the season was against Bayern Munich in the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, where Hazard played a vital role in the buildup to the first goal and scored the second, but went on to an eventual 5–4 defeat in the penalty shoot-out. In October 2013, Hazard, as a substitute, scored the game-clinching goal in a 3–1 Premier League clash against Norwich City at Carrow Road, before scoring twice and assisting Samuel Eto'o's first Chelsea goal in a comprehensive defeat of Cardiff City in the same competition. Hazard netted his fifth goal of the season against Schalke in a crucial 0–3 Champions League Group stage win. In October, Hazard was part of the 23-man shortlist of players nominated for the prestigious FIFA Ballon d'Or, awarded to the player who is voted the men's world footballer of the year.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 9 November, Hazard created Chelsea's first goal against West Bromwich Albion, which was scored by Eto'o. Later in the match Chelsea went 2–1 down, but Hazard scored a last minute penalty to clinch a point for his team. On 4 December, Hazard scored a brace in a 4–3 away victory over Sunderland, with coach José Mourinho claiming that Hazard delivered his best performance of the season. Sunderland manager Gus Poyet also praised Hazard for his individual impact on the game, saying he was "outstanding. He was unplayable, as a manager I haven't come up against anyone like that."


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 26 December, Hazard scored the only goal in Chelsea's 1–0 victory over Swansea. In Chelsea's next league match, Hazard scored a goal from 25 yards during Chelsea's 2–1 victory over Liverpool. After Hazard maintained his excellent form in Chelsea's 1–0 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on 3 February 2014, Mourinho declared Hazard as the best young footballer in the world. Hazard scored his first Premier League hat-trick against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on 8 February.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 27 April, Hazard won the PFA Young Player of the Year award and finished as the runner-up to Luis Suárez for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award for his fine attacking performances under José Mourinho. After Chelsea's Champions League exit against Atlético Madrid, Hazard claimed that Chelsea are only set up to counter-attack. Mourinho responded by saying that Hazard "is not so mentally ready" to help his defence, blaming him for the first goal scored by the opponents. In May, Hazard was voted Chelsea's Player of the Year in his second season at Stamford Bridge.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Upon Juan Mata's departure from the club in January, Hazard was handed the number 10 shirt for Chelsea ahead of the 2014–15 season. On 5 October, he won a penalty against Arsenal after being fouled by Laurent Koscielny, and then converted it himself past Wojciech Szczęsny to open a 2–0 victory which made Chelsea the last unbeaten team in the league. In doing so, he maintained his 100% penalty record out of 16 penalties. He also became the only player in Europe who has taken more than 15 penalties and scored all of them.


title: Eden Hazard

text: His first goals of the Champions League campaign came on 21 October, netting from the penalty-spot and from open play in a 6–0 home win over Maribor. On 5 November, away to the Slovene team, he earned an 85th-minute penalty but had it saved by Jasmin Handanović in a 1–1 draw. Hazard opened the scoring in Chelsea's 2–0 win over Hull on 13 December, with the goal being only the second headed one of his entire career. The header came as a surprised for many, even Mourinho, who stated: "That he scored in the air, I was surprised. He jumps a lot but normally he closes his eyes. So I was surprised, but very good goal."


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 12 February 2015, Hazard signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract with Chelsea. After signing, Hazard said: "I've signed a new contract and I'm very happy because I'm playing for one of the best clubs in the world." He played the full 90 minutes in the club's victory in the League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on 1 March, a 2–0 win over Tottenham.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 18 April, Hazard scored the only goal in a home win over Manchester United, after he latched on to Oscar's backheel pass to score past David de Gea. He was voted Man of the Match thereafter for his performance. As a result of Hazard's impressive performances throughout the 2014–15 campaign, his manager declared him "one of the top three players in the world". On 26 April, Hazard was recognised as the best player of the season among his peers, winning the PFA Players' Player of the Year. A week later, he scored the only goal as Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace to win their first Premier League title since 2010. He won a penalty after being fouled by James McArthur, and took it himself, heading in the rebound after it was saved by Julián Speroni.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 26 May, Hazard was voted as Chelsea's Player of the Year for the second year in a row. There are only four other players that have done it in the past; Juan Mata, Frank Lampard, Ray Wilkins, and John Hollins.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard endured a difficult start to the 2015–16 season, missing a penalty in the Champions League group stage against Maccabi Tel Aviv. On 27 October, in the fourth round of the League Cup away to Stoke, Hazard was the only player to miss in Chelsea's penalty shootout elimination, his attempt being saved by Jack Butland. Hazard endured a 2,358-minute scoreless run across 30 matches until 31 January 2016, when he scored from the penalty spot, his 50th goal for Chelsea in all competitions, in a 5–1 win over Milton Keynes Dons in the fourth round of the FA Cup.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In February, Hazard was scrutinised when he said it would "be difficult to say no" to a move to Paris Saint-Germain. He remained scoreless in the league until 23 April, when he recorded two goals in a 4–1 victory at AFC Bournemouth; after the result, interim manager Guus Hiddink insisted that Hazard would remain at Chelsea by next season. For the second consecutive campaign, Hazard scored the goal that decided the Premier League; he came on as a substitute at home to Tottenham on 2 May, and scored an equaliser as Chelsea came from 2–0 down at half-time to draw. The result meant Leicester City won the title at Tottenham's expense. On 11 May 2016, Hazard scored his fourth and final league goal of the season against Liverpool, although Chelsea were unable to hold on to the lead, with fellow countryman Christian Benteke scoring in extra time as the match finished in a 1–1 draw.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 15 August, in Chelsea's opening Premier League match of the season, Hazard scored a penalty in a 2–1 win over West Ham United. Hazard recorded a total of 81 touches throughout the game, and his performance earned him the Man of the Match. On 27 August, Hazard contributed another Man of the Match display in the 3–0 victory over Burnley, scoring the opener in the ninth minute. After voting ended on 5 September, Hazard received the most votes from the public poll, 41%, for the Premier League Player of the Month award although Raheem Sterling was later named the Player of the Month by a Premier League panel.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 15 October, Hazard, along with Diego Costa dedicated their goals to Willian, whose mother had died earlier that week, in the 3–0 victory over the champions, Leicester City. On 23 October, he scored his fourth goal of the season in a 4–0 win over former Chelsea manager, José Mourinho's Manchester United, equalling the number of league goals he managed in the previous season. Hazard continued his excellent form, scoring the first goal and assisting the second in Chelsea's 2–0 win over Southampton on 30 October. This marked the first time that he had scored in three consecutive Premier League games. His run of form continued into the next match as he scored two goals and assisted another in Chelsea's 5–0 win against Everton at Stamford Bridge on 5 November. Hazard's performance against Everton earned him another Man of the Match award, his third in a row in the Premier League. On 18 November, Hazard was named the Premier League Player of the Month for October.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 26 December, Hazard led the Blues to their twelfth consecutive league victory, a new club record, in the 3–0 victory over Bournemouth. He also converted a penalty for his 50th Premier League goal, making him the sixth Chelsea player to achieve this feat. On 20 April 2017, Hazard was named in the PFA Team of the Year for the fourth time in his five seasons at Chelsea. Two days later, he scored after coming on as a substitute in Chelsea's 4–2 FA Cup semi-final victory over rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.


title: Eden Hazard

text: At the beginning of the summer, Hazard suffered an ankle injury in training during international duty. The injury ruled him out for 6 to 8 weeks; missing the entire preseason and the Premier League opener. On 25 August, Hazard returned to action, playing 75 minutes for the Chelsea U23 side. On 28 October, Hazard scored his first league goal of the season in a 1–0 win against Bournemouth in the Premier League. On 3 January 2018, Hazard scored in a 2–2 draw with rivals Arsenal. Two goals against Brighton & Hove Albion on 20 January made it 100 league goals in his career. Hazard's double helped Chelsea to a 4–0 win at Falmer Stadium. On 12 February, Hazard scored a double in a 3–0 win over West Bromwich Albion.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In the 2018 FA Cup Final on 19 May, Hazard won a penalty which he converted, sending it low to the right past Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea for the only goal of the game.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard scored on his first start of the 2018–19 season, converting a penalty in a 2–1 win against Newcastle United on 26 August. On 15 September, Hazard scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 win over Cardiff City. He came off the bench to give Chelsea a 2–1 come-from-behind win over Liverpool in the third round of the EFL Cup at Anfield on 26 September. It was his sixth goal in seven appearances to start the season. In the next fixture, against Liverpool in the Premier League, he made it seven goals in eight games, opening the scoring in a 1–1 draw at Stamford Bridge. On 16 December, Hazard scored and assisted a goal for Pedro as Chelsea won 2–1 away to Brighton & Hove Albion in the league, before coming off the bench to send Chelsea through to the EFL Cup semi-final at the expense of Bournemouth three days later. He scored both goals in a 2–1 Boxing Day win against Watford at Vicarage Road, the first of which was his 100th Blues and 150th career club goal.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 8 April 2019, Hazard scored a solo goal against West Ham United which would be voted as Premier League Goal of the Month for April. On 9 May 2019, Hazard scored the decisive penalty in a 4–3 shootout win over Eintracht Frankfurt at Stamford Bridge to send Chelsea to the Europa League Final. His tally of 15 assists for the 2018–19 Premier League season saw him win the Premier League's Playmaker of the Season award. Hazard joined Thierry Henry, Matt Le Tissier and Eric Cantona to become the 4th player in premier league history to record at least 15 goals and 15 assists in a premier league season, and he also became player with most assists and goals for the season – 31. On 29 May, Chelsea won the Europa League following a 4–1 win over Arsenal in the final, in which Hazard scored twice, also assisting Pedro's goal. After the match, Hazard suggested that it probably was the last time he would play for the club.


title: Eden Hazard

text: At Chelsea, Hazard established himself as one of the best players in the world. On 7 June 2019, La Liga club Real Madrid announced on their website that Hazard would be signing for them for the 2019–20 season. He signed a contract until 30 June 2024 for a reported fee of €100 million, which could rise to €146.1 million due to additional fees, on a deal worth £400,000 per week. Hazard became Madrid's most expensive player after Gareth Bale, who was signed for €101 million in 2013. Should any of the variables be met, he would become Madrid's most expensive player in their history.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard was formally unveiled in front of 50,000 fans on 13 June at the Santiago Bernabéu, and was presented without a number on his shirt; he had been wearing the number 10 for both Chelsea and Belgium for a number of years, and admitted that he had asked Luka Modrić for the number at Madrid but Modrić refused to give it away. On 9 August, Madrid confirmed that Hazard would wear the number 7, previously worn by club legends Cristiano Ronaldo, Raúl González and Emilio Butragueño. Upon signing with Madrid, Hazard said "I've dreamt about this since I was little, I always supported Real Madrid" and described it as "a true honour." He listed manager Zinedine Zidane as a defining factor in making the move, as he had always been an admirer of him.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Having arrived at training camp out of shape, Hazard made his debut on 14 September 2019, coming on as a substitute in a 3–2 victory over Levante in La Liga at the Bernabéu. On 5 October, he scored his first competitive goal for Los Blancos, right before half time against Granada in his first home league start. In the second half, he also got his first assist which was to Modrić in an eventual 4–2 victory. On 26 November, Hazard suffered an ankle injury against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage after a rash challenge by Belgium teammate Thomas Meunier. Hazard went on to miss 16 Madrid matches across four competitions, which included the first El Clásico of the season, the Supercopa de España victory in Jeddah and the entire Copa del Rey campaign which ended with a quarter-final exit to Sociedad. At the end of the season he had made 16 league appearances, as Madrid won the 2019–20 La Liga.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 31 October, Hazard scored his first goal in over a year, which was also his first goal of the 2020–21 season in Madrid's 4–1 home league win over Huesca. On 25 November, he scored his first Champions League goal with Madrid in a 2–0 away win against Inter Milan. On 5 May 2021, Hazard apologised following criticism for laughing with Chelsea players Kurt Zouma and Édouard Mendy after Real Madrid's 3–1 aggregate defeat in the Champions League semi-final. Four days later, Hazard scored his first goal in over three months, a backheel goal against Sevilla in the sixth minute of stoppage time, which temporarily kept Madrid in the title race.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In the 2021–22 season, Hazard was playing respectably well early in the season, but Vinícius Júnior, who shares the same position as Hazard, thrived by scoring three goals in the opening two games of the season, causing Hazard to be pushed to the periphery of Carlo Ancelotti's main starting eleven. Hazard's relationship with Ancelotti would sour later on in the season. Hazard then suffered from a minor knock and gastroenteritis. On 20 January 2022, Hazard scored his first goal of the season, a 115th–minute winner against Elche to send Real Madrid to the quarter–finals of the Copa del Rey. On 25 March, Real Madrid announced that Hazard will undergo surgery to remove the osteosynthesis plate in his right fibula. On 30 April, Hazard won his second La Liga title with Real Madrid following a 4–0 home win against Espanyol. On 28 May, Hazard won his first UEFA Champions League title after Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1–0 in the final; Hazard remained an unused substitute throughout the match.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard played for various Belgian national youth teams, such as the under-17 and under-19 teams. With the under-17 team, he was a regular in the team making 17 appearances and scoring two goals. He played with the team in the Toto Cup, a yearly international youth tournament held in Austria and, also, played in the 2007 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, which Belgium hosted. In the tournament, Hazard scored his only goal in the team's opening match against the Netherlands converting a penalty in a 2–2 draw. The match was a homecoming for Hazard, as it was played in Tubize, where he spent part of his youth career. Throughout the tournament, Hazard impressed media and coaches, which led to many in Belgium comparing him to Belgian football legend Enzo Scifo.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Belgium suffered elimination in the semi-finals of the competition, losing to Spain 7–6 on penalties. Belgium were minutes away from a victory, courtesy of an own goal from David Rochela, which Hazard was particularly instrumental in, however Barcelona striker Bojan Krkić equalized for his nation to send the match into extra time. Due to finishing in third place at the tournament, Belgium qualified for the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in South Korea. Hazard was selected to participate and played in all three group stage matches, where Belgium were eliminated.


title: Eden Hazard

text: After playing at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in August and September 2007, Hazard began earning call-ups to the under-19 team the following month in October. His first appearance came in a 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification match against Romania coming on as a substitute in a 4–0 victory. He subsequently played in the next two group stage matches against Iceland and England. Belgium lost both matches. The negative results eliminated the country from the tournament. Due to being an underage player the previous year, Hazard was eligible for the under-19 team for the 2008–09 season. Due to his growing participation with Lille's first team, Hazard was only allowed to play in 2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification matches by his club and, as a result, missed the 2008 edition of the Milk Cup, which was held during Lille's preseason.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 7 October 2008, Hazard scored his first under-19 goal in the team's 5–0 victory over Estonia. Three days later, he scored a double in a 2–2 draw with Croatia. In the Elite Round, Hazard led the team in goals scoring three. In the opening match against the Republic of Ireland, he scored the lone goal. In the next match, Hazard was influential in the team's 5–0 thrashing of Sweden scoring a goal and assisting on two others. In the team's final match, they faced Switzerland. Belgium needed an outright victory to progress to the 2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, but were eliminated from qualifying after drawing 1–1 with the Swiss, despite Hazard opening the scoring for Belgium in the 21st minute.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 18 November 2008, Hazard was called up to the Belgium senior team, for the first time, by manager René Vandereycken for the team's match against Luxembourg. Prior to making his national team debut with Belgium, Hazard was courted by French Football Federation officials who sought the player to play for the France national team as he had become eligible for French citizenship. Hazard did not respond to the courtship and later stated "Because of my presence in France for seven years, I feel 99% Belgian and 1% French, but the idea of French citizenship has never crossed my mind".


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard made his highly anticipated debut for Belgium in the match against Luxembourg coming on as a substitute in the 67th minute for Wesley Sonck. On his debut, Hazard became the eighth youngest international player in Belgian football history, at 17 years and 316 days. On 12 August 2009, after three consecutive substitute appearances with the team, he made his first start under coach Franky Vercauteren in the team's 3–1 friendly loss to the Czech Republic. Following the resignation of Vercauteren, he was replaced with manager Dick Advocaat. Under Advocaat, Hazard became a starter in the team and, on 14 November 2009, played a full match for the first time in his international career. In the match, which was played against Hungary, Hazard assisted two goals in a 3–0 win.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In May 2010, Advocaat was replaced as manager by Georges Leekens. After featuring as a starter in Leekens first three matches in charge, Hazard began appearing as a substitute for Belgium during the 2010–11 season. Leekens justified his benching of Hazard citing the players' domestic performance, which had been underwhelming at the time, while also admitting that Hazard displayed a lack of desire in training with the national team and often neglected his defensive duties during international matches. After appearing as a substitute in two straight matches, Hazard returned to the starting lineup for the team's November 2010 friendly match against Russia. In the match, which Belgium won 2–0, Hazard assisted the team's opening goal scored by Romelu Lukaku.


title: Eden Hazard

text: After featuring as a starter in the team's 1–1 draw with Finland in February 2011, Hazard was relegated back to the substitute's bench for the team's important March 2011 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches as Leekens preferred Nacer Chadli and Mousa Dembélé on the wings. Following the matches, French media began questioning why Hazard was struggling to be appreciated in his home country, while, at the same time, was being praised in France. Marc Wilmots, assistant coach of the national team, responded to the media reports stating "Some people only see Eden's qualities" and "the French press are sometimes blinded by his moments of magic".


title: Eden Hazard

text: In Belgium's next competitive match against Turkey on 3 June 2011, Hazard started the match, but was substituted out after 60 minutes. Disappointed with his performance and substitution, the midfielder retired to the locker room and was later spotted on television outside the stadium with his family eating a hamburger while the match was still ongoing. Following the episode, which has become known as "Burgergate" in Belgium, Hazard apologized for the defection, while Leekens attributed Hazard's response to the substitution as "a young player making a mistake".


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 4 August, Leekens announced that Hazard would be disciplined for his actions during the Turkey match and, as a result, would miss the team's 10 August friendly match against Slovenia, as well as the team's Euro qualifying return match against Azerbaijan on 2 September and friendly against the United States four days later. On 9 August, Hazard's management group issued a press release to the Belgian media. The release detailed Hazard's actions during the Turkey match, criticized the player's three-match suspension, as well as questioned Leekens constant criticism of Hazard. On 25 August, it was announced that Leekens had lifted Hazard's suspension and the midfielder was subsequently named in the team to play the September fixtures. Leekens decided to lift the suspension after having a meeting with Hazard that was organized by the player's agent.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 7 October 2011, nearly three years after his debut, Hazard scored his first international goal against Kazakhstan in a 4–1 victory. The victory inserted Belgium into second-place position in its group in qualifying for UEFA Euro 2012 with the team needing a victory over Germany on 11 October to secure a place in the qualifying playoffs. In the match against Germany, Hazard played the entire match as Belgium failed to earn a place in the European Championship, losing 3–1 in Düsseldorf.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard made nine appearances in the "Red Devils"' successful 2014 World Cup qualification campaign, scoring twice. The first of these came on 22 March against the Republic of Macedonia at the Philip II Arena, converting a penalty to conclude a 2–0 win after being fouled by Aleksandar Lazevski. Three days later in the reverse fixture, he beat two defenders before scoring the only goal of the game.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 13 May 2014, Hazard was named in Belgium's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He assisted Dries Mertens' winning goal in the team's first game of the tournament, a 2–1 win against Algeria in Belo Horizonte. In Belgium's second match, he assisted Divock Origi's 88th-minute goal, giving the Red Devils a 1–0 win over Russia and qualifying them for the knockout stage, eventually reaching the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Argentina.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 7 June 2015, due to the suspension of regular skipper Vincent Kompany, Hazard captained Belgium for the first time in a friendly against France at the Stade de France, scoring a penalty for Belgium's final goal in a 4–3 victory. He won another penalty in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match on 3 September when fouled by Bosnia and Herzegovina's Ognjen Vranješ, and converted it past his Chelsea clubmate Asmir Begović to conclude Belgium's 3–1 comeback victory. Three days later, he finished Mertens' cross with four minutes remaining, for the only goal in an away win over Cyprus. On 10 October, Hazard scored a spot-kick again after Óscar Sonejee's handball, in a 4–1 win over Andorra which sealed Belgium's qualification to the continental championship for the first time since co-hosting UEFA Euro 2000.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Due to the absence of Kompany, Hazard was named captain of Belgium for the UEFA Euro 2016 finals. He scored a solo goal against Hungary in the last 16, before Belgium were eliminated by Wales in the quarter-finals. Alongside Aaron Ramsey, he finished as the top assist provider of the tournament with four assists.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard was appointed captain of Belgium for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. In the first game against Panama, he assisted the third goal of the match scored by Lukaku as Belgium won 3–0. He then scored twice (which included a penalty) in their second group stage victory against Tunisia. His penalty goal in the 6th minute was the team's second quickest goal in the history of the tournament. Hazard was also selected the Man-of-the-match after his impressive performance against Tunisia. In the final group match, Hazard did not play in Belgium's 1–0 victory over England as he, together with eight other starters in the previous two matches, were rested by Roberto Martinez. In Belgium's 3–2 victory over Japan in the last 16, Hazard was instrumental in mounting a comeback from a two-goal deficit as Belgium became the first team in 48 years to come back from 0–2 down to win a World Cup knockout match. For his second consecutive game, Hazard was once again voted the Man of the match by FIFA sponsors, Budweiser.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard was again in scintillating form in the quarter-finals as he helped lead Belgium to its second World Cup semi-final in their history with a 2–1 victory over five-time champions Brazil. In that game, Hazard set a World Cup record for successful dribbles completed in any World Cup game since 1966, with a 100% success rate in ten dribbles. In the semi-finals, which was a tight game, Belgium were defeated by eventual champions France 1–0 courtesy of Frenchman Samuel Umtiti's header and France's subsequent deep defense. On 14 July, Hazard's third Man of the match performance ensured victory for Belgium with his goal in the 82nd minute in a 2–0 victory against England in their third-place play-off, his nation's best ever World Cup finish.


title: Eden Hazard

text: At the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 15 July the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) selected Hazard as the second best player of the tournament, awarding him the Silver Ball. In addition to his dribbling he scored three goals and provided two assists in total, as well as being selected the Man of the match on three different occasions – more than any other player.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard made his 100th cap for Belgium during the Euro 2020 qualifiers in a 2–0 away win against Cyprus in March 2019, scoring the second goal in that match. Hazard captained Belgium to become the first team to qualify for the tournament. On 17 May 2021, he was selected to the final squad for the UEFA Euro 2020.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard featured in three out of Belgium's five games during the tournament, in which he provided an assist for Kevin De Bruyne to score the winning goal against Denmark. Due to later injury, he could not play in the quarter-final match and witnessed the team being ousted by Italy.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard was selected for Belgium's FIFA World Cup Qualifying campaign, assisting once in a 5–2 win vs Estonia, and scoring in a 3–0 victory over the Czech Republic. He was later praised by Belgium manager Roberto Martinez.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 7 December 2022, following Belgium's group stage exit at the 2022 World Cup, Hazard announced his retirement from the national team at the age of 31.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard primarily plays as either an attacking midfielder or a winger and has been credited as being "possibly the outstanding talent in Europe right now". At Lille under former manager Rudi Garcia, Hazard often played in the latter role in the team's 4–3–3 formation and regularly switched flanks because he could use both feet. Following the departures of fellow playmakers Yohan Cabaye and Gervinho in 2011, during the 2011–12 season, Garcia played Hazard in a creative role as a central attacking midfielder, while also allowing the player to roam back onto the wing if necessary. Two of Hazard's most common exemplary traits are his pace and technical ability, which have been described as "astonishing" and "mesmerizing". His speed, acceleration, and dribbling skills, combined with his creativity, as well as his flair, balance, agility, and low centre of gravity, courtesy of his diminutive stature (1.73 m/5 feet 8 inches), allow him to retain possession, take on defenders, and beat opponents in one on one situations.


title: Eden Hazard

text: At Chelsea, Hazard matured into a world class player and was primarily utilised as a left midfielder, a position which enables him to cut into the centre and strike on goal with his stronger right foot. His development into one of the world's best players was highlighted in the 2014–15 Season; during this season he won multiple awards and received praise from pundits and manager alike. Manager Jose Mourinho praised Hazard, saying that "He is already a top player and his evolution has been fantastic. He is still very young and he can become the best player in the world." Hazard's former teammate and Lille captain Rio Mavuba described Hazard as "a great player, with an immense talent. He's actually not that big, but he's so fast. He's also very difficult to dispossess and his finishing is top notch". Hazard's frequent goal celebration saw him sliding on his knees; since 2018 he has stayed on his feet. Although Hazard's favoured role is as a left winger, he is a versatile attacker, and has also been deployed as a second striker, as a lone striker, or even as a false-9 on occasion throughout his career. Beyond his speed, creativity, technical skills, and offensive qualities, he is also an accurate penalty and free kick taker.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard is regarded as one of the greatest Belgian players of all time. His pace, coupled with his finishing and ability to retain possession, led to his former coach Claude Puel dubbing him "little Messi", in reference to the former Barcelona player. Puel's sentiments were later echoed by former Marseille manager and media personality Rolland Courbis who commented "At times it looks to me like Lionel Messi on the right-hand side". Hazard's "flair and tricky" style of play has been described as being similar to Manchester United player Cristiano Ronaldo; a comparison later repeated by former French international Christophe Dugarry. His vision, described as being the trait he has improved on the most, coupled with his passing, has also allowed him to develop into an effective playmaker and assist provider, which in turn, combined with his finishing ability, enables him to both score and create goals.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In Belgium, Hazard's talent and similar ascension up the country's football hierarchy has led to comparisons to former Belgian international Enzo Scifo. Both players share the same birthplace and Scifo himself spent time with Hazard while he was in Tubize admitting "Eden, you know, I've coached in Tubize. During the week, I took care of the young people at least once, and he, in those days, I immediately saw he had a secure future". Former Chelsea player Gianfranco Zola likened Hazard to himself in 2019, a view which was the Belgian's former club teammate Frank Lampard had previously expressed in 2013.


title: Eden Hazard

text: However, despite the positive opinions, Hazard has endured criticism from some. In 2010, former Belgium national team manager Georges Leekens questioned Hazard's work-rate. Lille youth academy director Jean-Michel Vandamme countered both managers' criticism by arguing that Hazard simply possesses an intellectual honesty that is out of the ordinary and unexpected of today's footballer declaring "He is a real competitor, not a cheat, nor a moaner, because you don't hear him complaining when he gets fouled".


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard is married to Natacha Van Honacker. On 19 December 2010, it was reported that she had given birth to a baby boy, Yannis. She gave birth to their second son, Leo, in February 2013; a third son, Samy, in September 2015; and a fourth son in October 2019.


title: Eden Hazard

text: In 2012, Hazard signed a sponsorship deal with sportswear and equipment supplier, Nike. He appeared in an advert for the Nike Green Speed II alongside Mario Götze, Theo Walcott, Raheem Sterling, Christian Eriksen and Stephan El Shaarawy in November 2012.


title: Eden Hazard

text: Hazard features on the cover of EA Sports' "FIFA" video game "FIFA 15" in Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands and France, along with Lionel Messi. Hazard, Marco Reus, James Rodríguez and Anthony Martial were announced as the official ambassadors of the game and were the finalists to be the new face of "FIFA 17". Hazard was named the new face of the franchise in 2019 – taking over from Cristiano Ronaldo – appearing as the cover star of the regular edition of "FIFA 20".


title: Eden Hazard

text: Since March 2016, Hazard has been appearing in adverts for Belgium-based Lotus Bakeries promoting their Biscoff biscuit range. The advert shows him successfully taking a free kick, sending a ball into a gap in 10,000 cups.


title: Eden Hazard

text: On 26 June 2017, Hazard became a part-owner of expansion North American Soccer League franchise San Diego 1904 FC to begin play in 2018, alongside Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and Moussa Sow.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. Hill is credited for breaking barriers for female rappers, popularizing melodic rapping and for bringing hip hop and neo soul to popular music. She is known for being a member of Fugees, and for her 1998 solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", which became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Hill has won many accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, the most for a female rapper to this day.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill starred in the film "" (1993). She later formed the group Fugees, alongside Pras Michel and his cousin Wyclef Jean. The group released two albums, including "The Score" (1996); which spawned the hit single "Killing Me Softly", with Hill on lead vocals. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, making her the first woman to win the award. Afterwards, Hill collaborated with Nas on "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)"; and composed "A Rose Is Still a Rose" for Aretha Franklin. Her tumultuous relationship with Jean led to the split of the band in 1997, and soon after she began work on her solo album.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill's sole solo studio album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was released to widespread acclaim. It contains the songs "Ex-Factor" and "Lost Ones". It debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200, with the highest first-week sales for a debut album by a woman in the 20th century. The lead single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and made her the first artist to have debuted at No. 1 on both the "Billboard" 200 and Hot 100 with their first entries, as well as the first female rapper to have reached No. 1 on each chart. At the 41st Grammy Awards, Hill set a record for the most nominations in one night for a woman, with ten; while winning five awards including Album of the Year, becoming the first hip hop artist to win the award. The album was later selected for the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. Ultimately she dropped out of the public eye, dissatisfied with the music industry and suffering from the pressures of fame. In 2002, Hill released the new-material live album "MTV Unplugged No. 2.0", which was certified platinum by the RIAA.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill's subsequent activity has included festival appearances and periodically releasing songs. In 2015, "Billboard" ranked her seventh on their "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list, with Hill being the only woman on the list. "Consequence of Sound" named her one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Hill has earned several Guinness World Records, including one for being the first female rapper to earn a Diamond-certification by RIAA. She has appeared on "Rolling Stone"'s 500 Greatest Songs and Albums list, as a soloist and a member of the Fugees. Hill has received the NAACP's President's Award, and has been inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Lauryn Noelle Hill was born on May 26, 1975, in East Orange, New Jersey. Her mother, Valerie Hill, was an English teacher and her father, Mal Hill, a computer and management consultant. She has one older brother named Malaney who was born in 1972. Her Baptist family moved to New York for a short period before settling in South Orange, New Jersey.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill has said of her musically oriented family: "there were so many records, so much music constantly being played. My mother played the piano, my father sang, and we were always surrounded by music." Her father sang in local nightclubs and at weddings. While growing up, Hill frequently listened to Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Gladys Knight; years later she recalled playing Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" repeatedly until she fell asleep to it.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In middle school, Lauryn Hill performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a basketball game. Due to its popularity, subsequent games featured a recording of her rendition. In 1988, Hill appeared as an Amateur Night contestant on "It's Showtime at the Apollo". She sang her version of the Smokey Robinson track "Who's Lovin' You", garnering an initially harsh reaction from the crowd. She persevered through the performance.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill attended Columbia High School, where she was a member of the track team, cheerleading squad and was a classmate of actor Zach Braff. She also took violin lessons, went to dance class, and founded the school's gospel choir. Academically, she took advanced placement classes and received primarily 'A' grades. School officials recognized her as a leader among the student body. Later recalling her education, Hill commented, "I had a love for—I don't know if it was necessarily for academics, more than it just was for achieving, period. If it was academics, if it was sports, if it was music, if it was dance, whatever it was, I was always driven to do a lot in whatever field or whatever area I was focusing on at the moment."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: While a freshman in high school, through mutual friends, Prakazrel "Pras" Michel approached Hill about a music group he was creating. Hill and Pras began under the name Translator Crew. They came up with this name because they wanted to rhyme in different languages. Another female vocalist was soon replaced by Michel's cousin, multi-instrumentalist Wyclef Jean. The group began performing in local showcases and high school talent shows. Hill was initially only a singer, but then learned to rap too; instead of modeling herself on female rappers like Salt-N-Pepa and MC Lyte, she preferred male rappers like Ice Cube and developed her flow from listening to them. Hill later said, "I remember doing my homework in the bathroom stalls of hip-hop clubs."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: While growing up, Hill took acting lessons in Manhattan. She began her acting career in 1991 appearing with Jean in "Club XII", MC Lyte's Off-Broadway hip-hop rendering of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night". While the play was not a success, an agent noticed her. Later that year, Hill began appearing on the soap opera "As the World Turns" in a recurring role as troubled teenager Kira Johnson. She subsequently co-starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg in the 1993 release "", playing Rita Louise Watson, an inner-city Catholic school teenager with a surly, rebellious attitude. In it, she performed the songs "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" (a duet with Tanya Blount) and "Joyful, Joyful".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Director Bill Duke credited Hill with improvising a rap in a scene: "None of that was scripted. That was all Lauryn. She was amazing." Critic Roger Ebert called her "the girl with the big joyful voice", although he thought her talent was wasted, while "Rolling Stone" said she "performed marvelously against type ... in the otherwise perfunctory [film]". Hill also appeared in Steven Soderbergh's 1993 motion picture "King of the Hill", in a minor but pivotal role as a 1930s gum-popping elevator operator. Soderbergh biographer Jason Wood described her as supplying one of the warmest scenes in the film. Hill graduated from Columbia High School in 1993.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Pras, Hill and Jean renamed their group Fugees, a derivative of the word "refugee", which was a derogatory term for Haitian Americans. Hill began a romantic relationship with Jean. The Fugees, who signed a contract with Columbia/Ruffhouse Records in 1993, became known for their genre blending, particularly of reggae, rock and soul, which was first experimented on their debut album, "Blunted on Reality", released in 1994. It reached No. 62 on the "Billboard" Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart but overall sold poorly and was met by poor critical reviews due to their management's insistence they adopt gangsta rap attitudes. Although the album made little impact, Hill's rapping on "Some Seek Stardom" was seen as a highlight. Within the group, she was frequently referred to by the nickname "L. Boogie". Hill's image and artistry, as well as her full, rich, raspy alto voice, placed her at the forefront of the band, with some fans urging her to begin a solo career.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: The Fugees' second album, "The Score" (1996), peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 and stayed in the top ten of that chart for over half a year. It sold about seven million copies in the United States and more than 20 million copies worldwide. In the 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll, "The Score" came second in the list of best albums and three of its tracks placed within the top 20 best singles. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, and was later included on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. "The Score" garnered praise for being a strong alternative to the gangsta idiom, and Hill stated, "We're trying to do something positive with the music because it seems like only the negative is rising to the top these days. It only takes a drop of purity to clean a cesspool."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Singles from "The Score" included "Fu-Gee-La" and "Ready or Not", which highlighted Hill's singing and rapping abilities, and the Bob Marley cover "No Woman, No Cry". Her rendition of "Killing Me Softly" became the group's breakout hit. Buttressed by what "Rolling Stone" publications later called Hill's "evocative" vocal line and her "amazing pipes", the track became pervasive on pop, R&B, hip hop, and adult contemporary radio formats. It won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. On the album, Hill combined African-American music and Caribbean music influences with socially conscious lyrics. "Newsweek" mentioned Hill's "irresistibly cute looks" and proclaimed her "the most powerful new voice in rap".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: At 21 years old, Hill was still living at home with her parents. She had been enrolled at Columbia University during this period, and considered majoring in history as she became a sophomore, but left after about a year of total studies once sales of "The Score" went into the millions. In 1996, she responded to a false rumor on "The Howard Stern Show" that she had made a racist comment on MTV, saying "How can I possibly be a racist? My music is universal. And I believe in God. If I believe in God, then I have to love all of God's creations. There can be no segregation."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 1996, Hill founded the Refugee Project, a non-profit outreach organization that sought to transform the attitudes and behavior of at-risk urban youth. Part of this was Camp Hill, which offered stays in the Catskill Mountains for such youngsters; another was production of an annual Halloween haunted house in East Orange. Hill also raised money for Haitian refugees, supported clean water well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, and staged a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. A 1997 benefit event for the Refugee Project introduced a board of trustees for the organization that included Sean Combs, Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes, Spike Lee, and others as members.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 1997, the Fugees split to work on solo projects, which Jean later blamed on his tumultuous relationship with Hill and the fact he married his wife Claudinette while still involved with Hill. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1996 Hill had met Rohan Marley, a son of Bob Marley and a former University of Miami football player. Hill subsequently began a relationship with him, while still also involved with Jean. Hill became pregnant in late 1996, and on August 3, 1997, Marley and Hill's first child, Zion David, was born. The couple lived in Hill's childhood house in South Orange after she bought her parents a new house down the street.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill had a cameo appearance in the 1997 film "Hav Plenty". In 1998, Hill took up another small, but important role in the film "Restaurant"; "Entertainment Weekly" praised her portrayal of the protagonist's pregnant former girlfriend as bringing vigor to the film.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill recorded her solo record "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" from late 1997 through June 1998 at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica. The title was inspired by the book "The Mis-Education of the Negro" (1933) by Carter G. Woodson and "The Education of Sonny Carson", a film and autobiographical novel. The album featured contributions from D'Angelo, Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige and the then-unknown John Legend. Wyclef Jean initially did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered his production help; Hill turned him down.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Several songs on the album concerned her frustration with the Fugees; "I Used to Love Him" dealt with the breakdown of the relationship between Hill and Wyclef Jean. Other songs such as "To Zion" spoke about her decision to have her first baby, even though many at the time encouraged her to have an abortion so to not interfere with her blossoming career. "To Zion" was written to her son, Zion David Marley, who she had with one of Bob Marley's sons, Rohan Marley. Zion was the first of 5 children they had together. Indeed, Hill's pregnancy revived her from a period of writer's block.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In terms of production, Hill collaborated with a group of musicians known as New Ark, consisting of Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold Newton, and Johari Newton. Hill later said that she wanted to "write songs that lyrically move me and have the integrity of reggae and the knock of hip-hop and the instrumentation of classic soul" and that the production on the album was intended to make the music sound raw and not computer-aided. Hill spoke of pressure from her label to emulate Prince, wherein all tracks would be credited as written and produced by the artist with little outside help. She also wanted to be appreciated as an auteur as much as Jean had within the Fugees. She also saw a feminist cause: "But step out and try and control things and there are doubts. This is a very sexist industry. They'll never throw the 'genius' title to a sister." While recording the album, when Hill was asked about providing contracts or documentation to the musicians, she replied, "We all love each other. This ain't about documents. This is blessed."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Released on August 25, 1998, the album received rave reviews from contemporary music critics, and was the most acclaimed album of 1998. Critics lauded the album's blending of the R&B, doo-wop, pop, hip-hop, and reggae genres and its honest representation of a woman's life and relationships. David Browne, writing in "Entertainment Weekly", called it "an album of often-astonishing power, strength, and feeling", and praised Hill for "easily flowing from singing to rapping, evoking the past while forging a future of her own". Robert Christgau quipped, "PC record of the year—songs soft, singing ordinary, rapping skilled, rhymes up and down, skits de trop, production subtle and terrific". In 2017, NPR rated the album as the second-best album of all time created by a woman.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: It sold nearly 423,000 copies in its first week (boosted by advance radio play of two non-label-sanctioned singles, "Lost Ones" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You") and topped the "Billboard" 200 for four weeks and the "Billboard" R&B Albums chart for six weeks. It went on to sell about 10 million copies in the United States, and 20 million copies worldwide. During 1998 and 1999, Hill earned $25 million from record sales and touring. Hill, along with Blige, Missy Elliott, Meshell Ndegeocello, Erykah Badu, and others, found a voice with the neo soul genre.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: The first single released from the album was "Doo Wop (That Thing)", which debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. It exemplified Hill's appeal, combining feelings of self-empowerment with self-defense. Other charted singles from the album were "Ex-Factor", which has been sampled by Drake and Cardi B, "Everything Is Everything" and "To Zion". In the 1998 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll, "Miseducation" came second in the list of best albums and "Doo Wop (That Thing)" second in best singles.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In November 1998, Marley and Hill's second child, Selah Louise, was born. Of being a young mother of two, Hill said, "It's not an easy situation at all. You have to really pray and be honest with yourself."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In the run-up to the 1999 Grammy Awards, Hill became the first woman to be nominated in ten categories in a single year. In addition to "Miseducation" works, the nominations included her rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for the 1997 film "Conspiracy Theory", which had appeared on "Billboard" charts, and Hill's writing and producing of "A Rose Is Still a Rose", which became a late-in-career hit for Aretha Franklin. She appeared on several magazine covers, including "Time", "Esquire", "Rolling Stone", "Teen People", and "". During the ceremony, Hill broke another record by becoming the first woman to win five times in one night, taking home the awards for Album of the Year, Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. During an acceptance speech, she said, "This is crazy. This is hip-hop!" Hill had brought forth a new, mainstream acceptance of the genre.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In February 1999, Hill received four awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In May 1999, she became the youngest woman ever named to "Ebony" magazine's 100+ Most Influential Black Americans list; in November of that year, the same publication named her as one of "10 For Tomorrow" in the "Ebony 2000: Special Millennium Issue". In May 1999, she made "People" magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list. The publication, which has called her "model-gorgeous", praised the Hill for her idiosyncratic sense of personal style. In June 1999, she received an Essence Award, but her acceptance speech, where she said there was no contradiction in religious love and servitude and "[being] who you are, as fly and as hot and as whatever", drew reaction from those in the public who thought she was not a good role model as a young, unwed mother of two. This was a repetition of criticism she had received after the birth of her first child, and she had said that she and Marley would soon be married. In early 2000, Hill was one of the producers to share the Grammy Award for Album of the Year awarded for Santana's 1999 multi-million-selling "Supernatural", whereon she had written, produced, and rapped on the track "Do You Like the Way" (a rumination on the direction the world was headed, it also featured the singing of CeeLo Green and the signature guitar runs of Carlos Santana). She was also nominated for Best R&B Song for "All That I Can Say", which she had written and produced for Mary J. Blige. Also, her concocted duet with Bob Marley on "Turn Your Lights Down Low" for the 1999 remix tribute album "Chant Down Babylon" additionally appeared in the 1999 film "The Best Man" and later received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In November 1998, New Ark filed a fifty-page lawsuit against Hill, her management, and record label, claiming that Hill "used their songs and production skills, but failed to properly credit them for the work" on "Miseducation". The musicians claimed to be the primary songwriters on two tracks, and major contributors on several others, though Gordon Williams, a prominent recorder, engineer, and mixer on "Miseducation", described the album as a "powerfully personal effort by Hill" and said, "It was definitely her vision." Hill responded that New Ark had been appropriately credited and now were seeking to take advantage of her success. New Ark requested partial writing credits on most of the tracks on the album as well as monetary reimbursement. After many delays, depositions took place during the latter part of 2000. In part, the case illustrated the difficult boundaries between songwriting and all other aspects that went into contemporary arranging, sampling, and recording. The suit was eventually settled out of court in February 2001, with Hill paying New Ark a reported $5 million. A friend of Hill's later said of the suit, "That was the beginning of a chain effect that would turn everything a little crazy."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill began writing a screenplay about the life of Bob Marley, in the production of which she planned to play his wife Rita. She also began producing a romantic comedy about soul food with a working title of "Sauce", and accepted a starring role in the film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved"; she later dropped out of both projects due to pregnancy. She also reportedly turned down acting roles in the remake for "A Star Is Born" (the movie was later released in 2018, with the part going to Lady Gaga), "Dreamgirls" (the role of Deena, later played by Beyoncé), "Charlie's Angels" (the part that went to Lucy Liu), "The Bourne Identity", "The Mexican", "The Matrix Reloaded", and "The Matrix Revolutions".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: During 2000, Hill dropped out of the public eye. The pressures of fame began to overwhelm her. She disliked not being able to go out of her house to do simple errands without having to worry about her physical appearance. She fired her management team and began attending Bible study classes five days a week; she also stopped doing interviews, watching television and listening to music. She started associating with a "spiritual advisor" named Brother Anthony. Some familiar with Hill believe Anthony more resembled a cult leader than a spiritual advisor, and thought his guidance probably inspired much of Hill's more controversial public behavior.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: She later described this period of her life to "Essence" saying "People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at that time ... I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable about having to smile in someone's face when I really didn't like them or even know them well enough to like them." She also spoke about her emotional crisis, saying, "For two or three years I was away from all social interaction. It was a very introspective time because I had to confront my fears and master every demonic thought about inferiority, about insecurity or the fear of being black, young and gifted in this western culture." She went on to say that she had to fight to retain her identity, and was forced "to deal with folks who weren't happy about that."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In July 2001, while pregnant with her third child, Hill unveiled her new material to a small crowd, for a taping of an "MTV Unplugged" special. A live album of the concert, titled "MTV Unplugged No. 2.0", was released in May 2002 and featured only her singing and playing an acoustic guitar. Unlike the near-unanimous praise of "Miseducation", "2.0" sharply divided critics. AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the recording "is the unfinished, unflinching presentation of ideas and of a person. It may not be a proper follow-up to her first album, but it is fascinating." "Rolling Stone" called the album "a public breakdown", and Robert Hilburn of the "Los Angeles Times" said the album's title opened Hill up for jokes that she had become unhinged. "NME" wrote that ""Unplugged 2.0" is a sparse and often gruelling listen, but there is enough genius shading these rough sketches to suggest that all might not yet be lost." With the mixed reviews and no significant radio airplay, "2.0" debuted at No. 3 on the "Billboard" 200. The album was later certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA; and has received retrospective praise by music critics.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Her song "Mystery of Iniquity" from the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance, and was used as an interpolation by hip-hop producer/songwriter Kanye West for his single "All Falls Down" featuring Syleena Johnson, leading to Hill being credited as a songwriter on the song.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Around 2001, Marley and Hill's third child, Joshua Omaru, was born. He was followed a year later by their fourth, John Nesta. While Hill sometimes had spoken of Marley as her husband, they never married, and along the way she was informed that Marley had been previously married at a young age. According to a 2003 "Rolling Stone" report, he had never secured a divorce.Marley later disputed this and made public to a blog a 1996 divorce document from Haiti. The two had been living in a high-end Miami hotel, but around 2003 she moved out into her own place in that city. Hill later said that she and Marley "have had long periods of separation over the years". Hill slowly worked on a new album and it was reported that by 2003, Columbia Records had spent more than $2.5 million funding it, including installing a recording studio in the singer's Miami apartment and flying different musicians around the country.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: By 2002, Hill had shut down her non-profit Refugee Project. She said, "I had a nonprofit organization and I had to shut all that down. You know, smiling with big checks, obligatory things, not having things come from a place of passion. That's slavery. Everything we do should be a result of our gratitude for what God has done for us. It should be passionate."