Olivier Giroud

Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Lille. He is France's all-time highest goalscorer. Giroud began his senior club career playing for hometown club Grenoble, before he signed with Tours in 2008, aged 21. He was named Ligue 2 Player of the Year in 2010 after finishing as the league's top goalscorer. He was subsequently the subject of a then-club record football transfer when he moved to Montpellier in a transfer worth €2 million, winning the club's first Ligue 1 title and finishing as league top goalscorer in 2012. He then joined Arsenal, where he won three FA Cups to help end Arsenal's nine-year trophy drought, and is the club's eighteenth-highest all-time goalscorer. Giroud signed for crosstown rivals Chelsea in 2018 in a transfer worth £18 million (€20.7 million), winning the FA Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the UEFA Europa League, finishing as top goalscorer in the latter in 2019. Giroud then signed for AC Milan in 2021, helping them win the 2021–22 Serie A, which ended the club's 11-year league title drought. Giroud made his senior international debut for France in 2011 at age 25, and has since earned over 130 caps, including appearing in six major tournaments. He is his country's all-time top goalscorer, receiving the Bronze Boot as joint second-highest goalscorer as France finished runner-up at UEFA Euro 2016. He later won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and appeared at UEFA Euro 2020 as well as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where France finished as runners-up and Giroud again received the Bronze Boot. Olivier Jonathan Giroud was born in Chambéry in the Rhône-Alpes region and was raised in the nearby village of Froges, close to Grenoble. He is of Italian descent through both of his grandmothers (Yvonne Avogadro and Antonia Gaiatto). Independently of his professional career, Giroud, after obtaining his baccalaureate in economics and social sciences (ES), completed a second year of a degree in science and techniques of physical and sports activities (STAPS) at the Joseph Fourier University, in Grenoble. Giroud began organised football playing for his hometown club, Olympique Club de Froges. He spent six years training at the club before joining professional club Grenoble at the age of 13. Giroud has an older brother, Romain, who was also a footballer, having played at the Auxerre academy and having represented France at under-15 and under-17 level, however he dropped a potential professional career to study and become a nutritionist. Giroud has been married to Jennifer since 2011 and have four children together. Giroud is an Evangelical Protestant and has a tattoo on his right arm from Psalm 23 in Latin: "Dominus regit me et nihil mihi deerit" ("The Lord is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing). He describes himself as a "very believing person I don't cross myself before my games but I do a little prayer". In February 2014, Giroud reportedly cheated on his wife with model Celia Kay. After the incident, he issued an apology to his wife but later insisted that he had not committed adultery. Arsène Wenger, Giroud's manager at Arsenal at the time, did not comment on the matter, saying he wanted to "respect his privacy". In June 2023, Giroud auctioned the jersey he wore during France's 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-final victory to support Armenian victims of the blockade of the Republic of Artsakh. The jersey sold for €35,000 at a fundraiser to help persecuted Christians around the world.