Chelsea legend Eden Hazard inducted into Premier League Hall of Fame

Tom Weber

• 29 Oct 2025 13:01 CDT
• 6 min read

News

Former Chelsea winger Eden Hazard and Manchester United legend Gary Neville have been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

The Premier League established its Hall of Fame in 2020, with the first batch of inductees announced the following year. England's top flight wants to recognise and honour the players who have shaped it into the best league in the world.

There are different ways for players to become eligible for the Hall of Fame. Making a total of 250 appearances in the Premier League - or 200 for a single club - is one way.

It is also possible to get in by winning three Premier League titles, a Golden Boot or Golden Glove, a Player of the Season award or by having been selected for a Team of the Decade. Alternatively, scoring 100 goals or keeping 100 clean sheets (for goalkeepers) facilitates eligibility.

In its inaugural year in 2021, a whopping eight players were inducted into the Hall of Fame. The number was repeated in 2022, but the amount of annual inductees has decreased since. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are the only managers to have made it in to date.

Hazard, Neville inducted

This year, only two former players have been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame: former Chelsea winger Eden Hazard and ex-Man Utd right-back Gary Neville.

Hazard is regarded as one of the Premier League's finest players of the 2010s. A tricky wide player, the Belgian used to terrify defences and won two Premier League titles during his seven years at Stamford Bridge.

Hazard made 245 top-flight appearances in which he netted 85 goals and provided 52 assists. Former Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri previously described the now-34-year-old as a 'genius.'

The scintillating winger left Chelsea in 2019 for Real Madrid. However, constant injuries never allowed him to recapture the form he showed in West London, and he retired in 2023.

"For a small Belgian guy from Braine-le-Comte playing for fun, being inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame with these greats of the game at 34 years old is crazy," Hazard responded on social media to his induction. "Thank you to all of you; I will see you soon, my friends!"

In addition to Hazard, Man Utd great Gary Neville has also been inducted this year. A one-club man, the former right-back made a whopping 600 appearances for the Red Devils between 1992 and 2011, around 400 of which came in the Premier League.

Neville was a member of the famous Class of '92 and is regarded as one of the greatest right-backs in the history of English football. He won the Premier League eight times during Ferguson's record-breaking spell at the club.

Hazard: 'I'm very proud to join this group'

In an interview with the Premier League, Hazard said after his induction: "Thierry Henry is also there, you know. I grew up watching France, so players like [Zinedine] Zidane and Henry were my idols. So being there with them is special.

"It means a lot to join the Premier League Hall of Fame. I’m very proud to join this group of players, and I think we could make a good squad!

"I just wanted to have fun on the pitch and entertain the fans who bought tickets or watch on TV. Being recognised in this way is special for me and my family. My parents were both footballers and now my children love the game too."

Hazard emphasised that he always had the goal of giving people their money's worth when they came to watch him. "My playing style is just to have fun on the pitch," he explained. "I don’t think about it too much, I like to take the ball and go straight for the goal.

"I know the people pay for their tickets to go to watch a show, so that’s my job, to go for 90 minutes and show them what I can do. That was always in my head. When you look at my career, I think I did it well. I always try and give the fans a fun feeling and some entertainment, even opposition fans.

"From the first day to the last, it was like a love story with the fans," the Belgian said of his time at Chelsea. "Even now, when I'm walking on the street in London, six years after I moved to Real Madrid in 2019, people come up to me and say I gave them so much happiness on the pitch, and that gives me a good feeling.

"My first Premier League trophy was special. In a club you see people coming and going and when Didier Drogba came back to Chelsea [in 2014], one of my dreams was to play with him.

"He is the 'King of Chelsea', so when he came back, we were all thinking 'we have to show him the new generation is okay.' I think we did that well because we won the Premier League together and I got the Player of the Season award that year.

"Celebrating in the dressing room with JT [John Terry], with Drogba, gives you the confidence for the future to give more and to score more goals."

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