Karim Benzema has been a mainstay in FIFA since breaking onto the scene with Lyon in the 2000s.
Having been part of some wonderful Real Madrid teams, Benzema has earned a number of exceptional Ultimate Team cards throughout the years. And he’s only been getting better in recent memory.
Here’s a look at his rating history.
Benzema debuted in the FIFA series as a 17-year-old with some very modest stats.
A rating of 67 acceleration is as good as it got, but things soon turned up a notch.
Helping Lyon win Ligue 1 titles while getting some Champions League experience under his belt saw Benzema become one of the best young talents in world football.
His physical and shooting stats were given healthy boosts as he jumped up 15 points overall.
Benzema moved into the 80s ahead of a season where he’d score 20 Ligue 1 goals for Lyon.
FIFA 08 gave Benzema a brilliant all round rating, with great finishing and heading stats.
Becoming Lyon’s true talisman saw Benzema given another healthy rating boost.
He had a solid season in the Champions League and Real Madrid came snooping at the end of the year.
We’re entering some hazy glory years for Benzema’s FIFA ratings. He was a player you’d face in the game and end up thinking it was all rigged because Karim had stuck four past you in one half.
87 pace. 88 dribbling. 82 shooting. It just seems a little OTT, doesn’t it?
That being said, his rating did take a hit of three in FIFA 11, with the suits at EA obviously not too impressed by his first season in Madrid.
Benzema enjoyed a good season and ended up getting a couple of Team of the Week cards in Ultimate Team.
Benzema’s rating increased by one for FIFA 12, with his pace still in the high 80s.
With stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria around him it could have been hard to stand out, but Benzema enjoyed a great 2011/12 season as Real won La Liga.
That league title – alongside 21 goals in the competition – saw Benzema boosted up to 87, his highest rating in the game up to this point.
His key stats still dropped from the previous FIFA, so make of that what you will.
Here they come again, looking to knock points off proven FIFA legends. What are they like?
11 La Liga goals during the 2012/13 season saw Benzema drop down to 85. By the end of the campaign, he’d have an 88-rated left winger card. How times change, eh?
A first Champions League triumph for Benzema came in 2014, but his achievements weren’t enough to move up a rating for FIFA 15.
The needle moved slightly in FIFA 16, where by the end of the season he’d have a TOTS card rated at 95. 24 goals in 27 league appearances will do that.
That campaign helped Benzema jump back up to 87, though he would never be the top dog while Ronaldo was at the Bernabeu.
Another handsome mid 80s rating, you say?
84 shooting and 82 dribbling are the standout stats here.
The start of the 2018/19 is when Benzema really started to get his groove back, having suffered a dip in form the previous campaign.
However, his rating always remained in the mid 80s while Real enjoyed phenomenal success.
Ronaldo is now out of the picture but Benzema still isn’t Real’s top rated player.
In FIFA 20, that honour went to Eden Hazard, fresh from a move from Chelsea.
His pace has taken a slight battering and dipped into the 70s by now, but Benzema was enjoying some of the best football of his career by FIFA 21 and was knocking on the doors on the 90s.
Benzema was firmly cemented himself as Real’s current icon by this point, leading a squad which looked a little short in attack in FIFA 22.
However, the emergence of Vinicius Junior provided Los Blancos with a new fearsome attacking duo, bringing the best out of Benzema as a playmaker. He had a 98-rated card by the end of the season.
The most recent FIFA edition sees Benzema venture into the 90s for the first time in his career.
He’s still got a bit of pace about him but stats like 92 finishing and 92 attacking position really stand out.
Benzema is rated 91 and is the joint best player in the game, alongside Kevin De Bruyne, Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi.
