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Varane was born in the city of Lille in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. He is of Martiniquais heritage through his father, Gaston, who is originally from Le Morne-Rouge, while his mother, Annie, was raised in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. Varane began his football career in the Arrondissement of Lille playing for local club Hellemmes at the age of seven. After spending two years at the club, in July 2002, he joined professional club Lens, despite some interest from Derby du Nord rivals and hometown club Lille. Similar to the development of the club’s previous prized assets such as Gaël Kakuta and Timothée Kolodziejczak, Varane spent time at the Centre de Préformation de Football in nearby Liévin, a training centre exclusively for players brought up in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. He spent two years at the centre training there during the weekdays and playing with Lens on the weekends. was described by Lens youth coach Éric Assadourian as a “truly first-class player” who was “comfortable on both the tactical and technical level.” On 30 January 2013, the then Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka talked about Varane in the press conference post-El Clásico of the Copa del Rey, saying, “It’s obvious that Varane has a good head on his shoulders and will keep improving.” Varane’s height made him effective in the air, while his confidence on the ball allowed him to evade the opposing team’s press and start attacking plays from the back with his passing. Former France defender Frank Leboeuf believed that Varane had the potential to be better than Real Madrid legend Fernando Hierro, saying to reporters, “Many compare him to Hierro due to his technique, but on the physical level he is stronger and he is much faster.” Both Hierro and José Mourinho labelled Varane as one of the best defenders in world football. In August 2012, Varane was called up to the France national team for a friendly against Uruguay, but was an unused substitute.[84] He started his first match for France on 22 March 2013 in a qualifier for the World Cup against Georgia, a 3–1 victory. On 13 May 2014, he was included in Didier Deschamps’ squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. On 15 June 2014, he partnered Mamadou Sakho in central defence for Les Bleus’ first World Cup fixture – a 3–0 win over Honduras. He was also in the starting line-up for the second group match against Switzerland and the knockout matches against Nigeria and Germany, as France were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by the Germans 1–0.[88] Varane took the blame for allowing Mats Hummels to hold him off at the critical set-piece which allowed the German defender to head the winning goal.[89] In spite of this, Varane was named on the three-man shortlist for the tournament’s Best Young Player award. On 14 October, Varane became the youngest player to captain France when he took over from Blaise Matuidi at half time in a 3–0 win over Armenia. He was then selected as the team’s starting captain for a home friendly against Sweden on 18 November, where he scored his first international goal to give Les Bleus a 1–0 win. On 24 May 2016, he was ruled out of UEFA Euro 2016 with a thigh injury, and was replaced by Adil Rami. On 17 May 2018, Varane was called up to France’s 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He would go on to start in all seven of France’s games and play every minute. In the quarter-final against Uruguay, Varane scored the opening goal with a header in France’s 2–0 victory. France later went on to win the competition for the second time in history, and Varane became only the fourth player to be a World Cup champion and Champions League winner in the same year, after Christian Karembeu (in 1998), Roberto Carlos (in 2002), and Sami Khedira (in 2014). All the players, like Varane, were playing for Real Madrid at the time they won the World Cup. In May 2021, he was included in the squad for the UEFA Euro 2020. He played in every minute of France’s four matches at the tournament, including the period of extra time at the end of their round of 16 match against Switzerland; that match went to penalties, but Varane was not selected to take one of the first five kicks as France lost 5–4. In November 2022, Varane made the 26-man squad for France for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 18 December, Varane was named in the starting line-up for France as they played their second successive World Cup final, eventually losing 4–2 on penalties to Argentina. On 2 February 2023, at 29 years old, Varane announced his retirement from international football via his Instagram account. The defender shared a series of photos from his international career alongside the announcement. The announcement marked the end of his 10 year run with the national team where he made 93 appearances and scored 5 goals. Varane is married to his long-time partner Camille Tytgat, and they have a son named Ruben and a daughter named Anaïs. When Zinedine Zidane called Varane about Real Madrid’s interest in signing him in June 2011, Varane asked Zidane to call him back because he was in the middle of studying for his baccalaureate exam. His half brother, Jonathan Varane, is a professional footballer who currently plays for Queens Park Rangers. His sister, Annabelle Varane, was Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais 2018 and competed in Miss France 2019. In an interview for L’Équipe in April 2024, Varane said that concussions suffered in various official matches throughout his career had “damaged [his] body”, as he suggested to avoid teaching children heading and called for wider awareness among players around the dangers of repeated head trauma to brain health. He also revealed how symptoms of concussions had a negative impact on some of his performances, including the quarter-final match against Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the second leg of the round of 16 match against Manchester City in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League.