Benjamin Jacques Marcel Pavard (born 28 March 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Bayern Munich and the France national team. Although usually deployed as a right-back, he is also capable of playing as a centre-back. He began his career at Lille in Ligue 1 and transferred to VfB Stuttgart in 2016, where he won the 2. Bundesliga in his first season. In January 2019 he agreed a move to Bayern Munich, which was completed after Stuttgart's relegation at the end of the season. In 2020, he completed an historic sextuple by winning the Bundesliga,

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, Champions League, DFL-Supercup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Pavard made his international debut for France in November 2017, and won the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, also featuring at UEFA Euro 2020 and the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first ...

Early life

Benjamin Jacques Marcel Pavard was born on 28 March 1996 in Maubeuge, Nord.

Club career

Early career

Pavard first played with his hometown club in Jeumont, where former France international striker Jean-Pierre Papin also began his career. Spotted by

Jean-Michel Vandamme Jean-Michel Vandamme (; born 10 November 1959) is a French football executive, and former professional player and coach, who is currently the academy general manager of French Ligue 1 club Lille. Career After retiring from professional football ...

, Pavard joined Lille's academy at the age of nine. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 31 January 2015 against FC Nantes, playing the full game in a 1–1 away draw. Pavard made 21 league appearances across two seasons for Lille, before leaving the club in 2016.

VfB Stuttgart

On 30 August 2016, Pavard moved to VfB Stuttgart, signing a four-year contract. He made his debut in the 2. Bundesliga on 3 October, scoring in a 4–0 home win over SpVgg Greuther Fürth. He played 21 games and his team ended the season as league champions. Pavard made his Bundesliga debut on 19 August in a 2–0 loss at Hertha BSC. He scored his first goal in the Bundesliga with a delightful back header on 29 October in a 3–0 win over SC Freiburg at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. He extended his contract with Stuttgart on 20 December 2017 until 30 June 2021. He was one of only four players to feature in every single second of the 2017–18 Bundesliga season. He played in several positions, namely right-back, centre-back,

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundari ...

and

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

, but after the appointment of Tayfun Korkut as manager in January 2018 he was exclusively a centre back; the team conceded 10 goals in their last 14 games as they went from near the relegation places to finish 7th, only just missing out on a UEFA Europa League place. In 2018–19, Pavard was again a regular as Stuttgart fought relegation all season, which was confirmed with defeat to

1. FC Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

in a playoff.

Bayern Munich

On 9 January 2019, Bayern Munich confirmed Pavard would join the club for the 2019–20 season, signing a five-year contract lasting until 30 June 2024. He made his competitive debut on 3 August in a 2–0 defeat in the

2019 DFL-Supercup The 2019 DFL-Supercup was the tenth edition of the German super cup under the name DFL-Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions. The match was played on 3 August ...

against Borussia Dortmund, as an 80th-minute substitute for Thiago Alcântara. On 31 August, he scored his first goal for the club to equalise in a 6–1 home win over Mainz 05. On 11 February 2021, Pavard scored Bayern's only goal in a 1–0 win against Tigres UANL in the

2020 FIFA Club World Cup Final The 2020 FIFA Club World Cup Final was the final match of the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup, an international club football tournament hosted by Qatar. It was the 17th final of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised tournament between the club cha ...

, as the club won its sixth trophy in a year. On 26 October 2022, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 3–0 away win against Barcelona. A week later, he scored a goal in a 2–0 victory against Inter Milan, in which Bayern Munich finished top of their Group C with six wins out of six matches for the second consecutive season.

International career

On 6 November 2017, Pavard was selected by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

's head coach

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, ...

for the friendly matches against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He made his debut against the Welsh on 10 November in a 2–0 win at the Stade de France, replacing Christophe Jallet at half time. On 17 May 2018, he was called up to the 23-man French squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. On 16 June, Pavard made his

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

debut in a 2–1 victory over Australia. On 30 June, Pavard scored his first international goal, a half-volley from outside the penalty area, in a 4–3 victory over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the World Cup's round of 16. The goal was later voted as goal of the tournament and nominated for the Puskas Award of the year. He also became the first French defender to score a goal in the World Cup since Lilian Thuram scored against

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in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

semi-final. Pavard won the World Cup, after starting all of France's games except for their last group match against

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. At UEFA Euro 2020, Pavard suffered a head injury in France's opening 1–0 win over

, but continued playing. He said after the game that he felt "a little knocked out for 10 to 15 seconds". This appeared to break UEFA's protocol that a player showing signs of concussion should be withdrawn from the match, whether or not he or the manager agreed with it. After analysing reports by the French team's doctors, UEFA concluded that Pavard never lost consciousness and it was right for him to play on. On 9 November 2022, he was called up to the 25-man French squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Pavard goal''

Honours

VfB Stuttgart * 2. Bundesliga: 2016–17 Bayern Munich * Bundesliga: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 *

: 2019–20 * DFL-Supercup:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: 2019–20 * UEFA Super Cup:

* FIFA Club World Cup:

France *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: 2018; runner-up:

* UEFA Nations League: 2020–21 Individual * FIFA World Cup Goal of the Tournament: 2018 *UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI: 2019 *''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2019–20 Orders * Knight of the Legion of Honour: 2018

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Bayern Munich website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavard, Benjamin 1996 births Living people People from Maubeuge Sportspeople from Nord (French department) Footballers from Hauts-de-France French footballers Association football defenders Lille OSC players VfB Stuttgart players FC Bayern Munich footballers Championnat National 2 players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players UEFA Champions League winning players France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers France international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players UEFA Nations League-winning players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur