Nicolas Benezet (born 24 February 1991) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for club

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

Club career

France

Born in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, Benezet played in the youth academy of

before signing with

in 2004. He made his professional debut in the 2010–11 season on 15 October 2010 in a league match against Istres appearing as a substitute in a 0–0 draw. On 8 December 2010, he signed his first professional contract after agreeing to a three-year deal with Nîmes. Two days later, he rewarded Nîmes by scoring his first professional goal in a 3–2 victory over Istres in the Coupe de France. On 21 December, he scored his first professional league goal in a 2–0 win against

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. At the end of the 2012–13 season, top-flight clubs Sochaux-Montbéliard and Evian Thonon Gaillard showed interest in signing him and in July 2013, Benezet joined Evian. On 3 July 2015, Benezet signed for

En Avant de Guingamp En Avant Guingamp (, en, Forward Guingamp), commonly referred to as EA Guingamp, EAG, or simply Guingamp (), is a professional football club based in the commune of Guingamp in France's Brittany region. The club was founded in 1912 and play in ...

Major League Soccer

In July 2019, following Guingamp's relegation from

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

, Benezet joined

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

on loan for the remainder of their season, with the club holding an option to make the transfer permanent at the conclusion of the loan, which would be triggered automatically if he started six regular season matches (he ultimately started five). Toronto chose not to acquire him permanently after the loan due to a lack of salary cap space after the re-signing of Michael Bradley. In January, Benezet returned to MLS, signing with Colorado Rapids, who paid a $500,000 transfer fee to Guingamp for him, after acquiring his MLS rights from Toronto in a trade. He made his Rapids debut on 12 July against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

at the MLS is Back Tournament. he earned his first assist in Burgundy on

Kellyn Acosta Kellyn Kai Perry-Acosta (born July 24, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the United States national team. Early life Acosta was raised in Plano, Texas. ...

's opening goal against

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

on 17 July. Benezet finished the season with three assists among 13 appearances, including Colorado's first-round playoff loss at

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Socc ...

. On August 5, 2021, Benezet was traded to

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

for $50,000 in

general allocation money Allocation money, in Major League Soccer, represents an amount of money that teams may use to sign players and/or allocate to their salaries to get under the salary cap. Reasons for obtaining MLS teams receive general allocation money for these r ...

. He was signed through the end of the 2021 season, with an option for the 2022 season, primarily to provide depth for the team. Benezet made his Sounders debut on August 15 in a 6–2 victory against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

, entering the match as a substitute and scoring in stoppage time. Following the 2021 season, Seattle declined their contract option on Benezet.

Return to France

In June 2022, Benezet returned to

and signed a one-year contract with the option to extend for three more seasons.

Personal life

Benezet is a noted fan of

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

and

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, particularly ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 '' Dragon Ball'' anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original ...

'' and ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

''.

Career statistics

Club

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benezet, Nicolas Living people 1991 births Association football midfielders French footballers France youth international footballers Nîmes Olympique players Thonon Evian Grand Genève F.C. players En Avant Guingamp players Stade Malherbe Caen players Toronto FC players Colorado Rapids players Seattle Sounders FC players Championnat National players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Major League Soccer players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States