Hazard announces his return THIS MONTH after Real Madrid ripped up his contract

Eden Hazard will once again grace the football pitch this month after announcing his return to football – for a charity match.

Hazard was released by Spanish giants Real Madrid in the summer after making just 76 appearances across four seasons at the club.

The forward arrived at the Bernabeu in 2019 from Chelsea and joined as one of the standout players in the Premier League. However, his eye-watering £130million total price tag placed a demand on him to hit the ground running in Spain.

Instead, Hazard struggled to make an impact at the Bernabeu and found himself slipping down the pecking order before terminating his contract by mutual consent.

Now without a club, there have been hints that the Belgian could hang up his boots altogether but fans will get to see the winger play again later this month for a good cause.

According to L'Equipe, Hazard will play for the Varietes Club de France on October 18 at the Stade de L’Epopee in Calais.

The VCF was created in 1971 and hosts over 40 charity games per year, with some of the best players to have ever played representing the side.

Hazard will be joining the team for a game, playing alongside some of France's World Cup winners from 1998, including Les Bleus boss Didier Deschamps, Laurent Blanc, Robert Pires and Christian Karembeu in front of 12,000 fans.

Hazard will also be joined by some of his former Lille team-mates with Mathieu Debuchy and Yohan Cabaye also turning out to raise some money for the good cause.

A return to elite-level football is looks to be off the cards following his Real Madrid departure.

The winger did reportedly have some English clubs interested in him after leaving Madrid, but concerns about his fitness seemed to be a major barrier.

The Belgian winger suffered 18 separate injuries during his spell in the Spanish capital, ruling him out of 95 games for club and country.

This was a complete contradiction to his time at Chelsea, where the Belgian was rarely injured and notched 110 goals and 92 assists in 352 appearances for the Blues.

Hazard won the Premier League twice and the PFA Player of the Year award at Chelsea, but also secured two La Liga titles and the Champions League with Real Madrid.

He retired from international duty after Belgium crashed out of the group stages at the Qatar World Cup and looks to be following the same route with his club career.