Thorgan Hazard comes from a footballing family. His father Thierry was a defender in the Belgian second division, whereas his mother Carine plied her trade as a striker in the top flight. His younger brothers Kylian (23, Cercle Brügge) and Ethan (the youngest at 15) are held in high regard, while his older brother Eden is one of the best footballers in the world and moved from Chelsea to Real Madrid for €100 million in the summer.
Thorgan Hazard swapped one Borussia (Mönchengladbach) for another (Dortmund) in July 2019. "I'm grateful for the five great years and lovely memories at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Now was exactly the right time to take the next step in my career," the 26-year-old said upon signing his contract with BVB. "I'm proud to be able to play for Borussia Dortmund. It's a top club with incredible fans," he added.
Hazard possesses incredible tempo going forward, and has great stamina too! The attacker, who sprinted a distance of 20.29 kilometres in the 2018/19 season, was only outrun by Wout Weghorst of Wolfsburg (22.85 km), Danny da Costa of Frankfurt and his team-mate Jadon Sancho (20.97 km). In total, Hazard made 967 sprints and clocked a top speed of 33.02 km/h. The Belgian is great at getting in behind defences. Thanks to his one-on-one skills and his incredible tempo, his link-up play and his technical ability, he's almost impossible for opponents to handle – he was in the first half of this season anyway. Those attributes saw him finish top of the kicker Sportmagazin ranking list for attacking wide players in the winter of 2018. Michael Zorc has been won over. "He'll help us with his tempo, his experience and his finishing abilities."
Thorgan Ganael Francis Hazard was born in La Louvière, Belgium, on 29 March 1993 and grew up in the small town of Braine-le-Comte, which has 22,000 inhabitants and is located south of the capital Brussels. "We always played football, everywhere. Football was always the focal point for us," he told kicker. Either in his parents' garden or on a nearby field. "Eden always put me in goal and used to smash the ball at me. I always wanted to play outfield myself, but there was nothing I could do about it as the youngest." Hence why he was happy to see the day when Kylian was old enough to play with his two older brothers. "Then," explained Thorgan with a broad grin, "he had to go in goal". (kicker-Sportmagazin, Issue 56/2019)
Thorgan joined the academy of second-tier side AFC Tubize at the age of 10, then went abroad – more specifically to France, and RC Lens – at the age of 14 in 2007. It was there that he made the leap to professional football, with his debut coming in a second-tier match against Stade Reims on 30 July 2011. Between then and the summer of 2019, he made a further 280 appearances (67 goals). That tally includes the Champions League, where he made eight appearances for Gladbach between 2014 and 2019. Between 2012 and 2014, he played for Zulte Waregem.
Hazard represented Belgium at every youth level from U15 upwards and made his debut for the senior side in a match against the USA on 30 May 2013. He made two appearances at the World Cup in Russia, where the Red Devils finished in third place. By the start of the 2019/20 campaign, he had made 23 senior international appearances, scoring three goals. Thorgan Hazard is married and has three children.