Karim Benzema won this year’s Ballon d’Or award on Monday night, and Real Madrid will now have to pay Lyon €1 million as a result of a clause in his contract.
In 2009, the Frenchman moved from Lyon to Los Blancos.
Following only his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema has gone on to score 328 goals for Madrid, the second-highest total in the club’s history.
The 34-year-old netted 44 goals as the LaLiga giants won the league title and the Champions League trophy.
A clause agreed between the clubs when Benzema moved to the Spanish capital from Lyon in 2009 means that Real Madrid will have to pay €1m (£870k) to the Ligue 1 club as that was the add-on included for winning the Ballon d’Or crown.
“It is an immense pride with a lot of emotion because Karim is a child of Lyon.”
“He is a child that we have seen grow up and that we have seen flourish.” “We have seen him succeed in almost everything he has undertaken,” Lyon’s president, Jean-Michel Aulas, said after the ceremony.
“And then that is partly for us, as we not only hired him since his first contracts, he signed them with us – that is a source of pride.” “Pride imprinted with a message, that of being an example and a leader because having a youngster like Karim who only plays two clubs in his entire career is special.
