Karim Benzema: I'll Play For France at 2026 World Cup 'If They Call Me'

Karim Benzema has reignited one of the most compelling storylines of his career by revealing he remains fully open to representing France at the 2026 World Cup, despite a turbulent international history that has long suggested his time with Les Bleus is over.

Didier Deschamps' men will be looking to regain the global crown in North America, spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe — and Benzema is willing to lend a helping hand to the cause.

Benzema has only featured at one World Cup, the 2014 edition in Brazil. He was ignored by Raymond Domenech in 2010 and remained in exile during France’s triumphant 2018 campaign as the fallout from the Mathieu Valbuena sex tape scandal left him out in the cold.

When he was finally recalled in 2021 under Deschamps, the return was short-lived. He travelled to Qatar in 2022 but suffered an injury during his very first training session. Subsequently, he left the camp in circumstances that raised eyebrows. Despite never announcing an official retirement, his absence from the national team since then has led many to assume the door had quietly shut.

Yet, speaking to L’Equipe, Benzema made it clear that the notion of him turning down France is simply not true and insisted that football decisions should be governed by purpose rather than politics.

"I’m a football player. So, I play football. When they call me, I come, I play," he said. "I have goals in my head. I love football and I love winning. I like trophies. That’s what matters most to me. There, I am in my club. If I am called to the national team, I come to play football. And it stops there."

Despite everything that has happened, the idea of refusing a World Cup return holds no truth for him.

"It’s not a story of no longer wanting to come back to