Karim Benzema and 15-year-old girl controversy explained: Real Madrid star se**al assault accusation

Karim Benzema was accused of se**ally assaulting a 15-year-old Zahia Dehar back in 2010 alongside France national teammate Frank Ribery.

Karim Benzema and 15-year-old girl controversy explained: Real Madrid star se**al assault accusation

Karim Benzema and Frank Ribery were charged with se**ally assaulting a 15-year-old girl back in 2010. (via Guardian)

Former French national team forward and 2022 Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema has often remained at the center of controversy. More than a decade ago, Benzema was accused of allegedly soliciting a 15-year-old underage pr**titute in a high-profile se**ual assault case.

Karim Benzema, back in 2010, played for Real Madrid after having made a €41 million transfer to the club from Lyon. Benzema had signed a six-year long deal with the Los Blancos and later went on to establish himself as one of the club’s legends. He won five Champions League, four La Liga, and another five FIFA Club World Cup titles with Real Madrid in his 14-year stay in the Spanish capital.

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Despite having broken through the French national side back in 2007, Benzema was strangely left out of the Les Blues squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It later came to light that the then-22-year-old Benzema had been accused of se**ally assaulting a minor at a Paris nightclub. He was questioned by French police, alongside teammates Frank Ribery, Sidney Govou, and Hatem Ben Arfa.

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The long-drawn-out investigation tarnished the image of French football after the four players were caught in a raid on a Parisian bar in April 2010. Zahia Dehar, an Algerian-French model, later revealed that she was paid to have se**al encounters with Ribery and Benzema. However, Dehar was only 15 or 16 years old at the time, a fact that caught the attention of investigators.

Dehar claimed that the footballers did not have knowledge of her real age and had claimed to be 18 years old to the two players. Despite that, Benzema and Ribery were indicted for solicitation of an underage minor pr**titute. While French laws state that the age of consent in the nation is 16 years, pr**titution in the country is, however, legitimate only above the age of 18.

The Paris state prosecutor’s office had requested for the case against Benzema and Ribery to be dropped on grounds that the two were uninformed about Dehar’s age. However, they were later placed on trial in January 2014 by the Paris criminal court. Both players denied having paid Dehar for se**al encounters in the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Ten days later, the court, following several testimonies and after the investigation of facts, dropped the charges against Benzema and Ribery. However, five others were handed prison sentences after being found guilty of underage p**ping. While the charges might have been dropped, the case did receive significant media coverage, with the two players being left out of the French side several times.

Meanwhile, Benzema was once again charged for blackmailing fellow national team player Mathieu Valbuena in 2015 over an alleged s*x tape. He was later found guilty in 2021 and was awarded a year-long suspended sentence, which ultimately led to his five-year long exile from the national team.

Explained: Karim Benzema’s 2022 FIFA World Cup feud with France head coach Didier Deschamps

Former Real Madrid star Karim Benzema has experienced a long-standing feud with France national team head coach Didier Deschamps since the latter’s appointment to the position in 2012. Benzema, in his final international playing days, had to depart the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Karim Benzema and Didier Deschamps
Karim Benzema had lashed out at France head coach Didier Deschamps (via Managing Madrid)

While Deschamps claimed that Benzema had suffered from a thigh injury in training ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, the player and his agents refuted it. His agent criticized the manager’s decision to send him back home despite the forward having later returned to fitness. Benzema also responded to Deschamps’ claims by calling him a ‘liar’, noting personal enmity as a reason for his exclusion.

Benzema had also blamed Deschamps for having acted under pressure during his 2016-2020 exile from the national team. Nonetheless, the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner announced his retirement from international football at the end of the Qatar World Cup as France lost to Argentina in the final.