The 36-year-old French striker Olivier Giroud became a new all-time leading goal-scorer for France after scoring in the Round of 16 match in the FIFA World Cup 2022 against Poland.
Before the defending champions’ first knockout stages match in the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, AC Milan striker Olivier Giroud was in an equal position, with the legend Thierry Henry, in the list of all-time leading goal-scorer for France with 51 goals.
FIFA World Cup 2022: Olivier Giroud scored his 52nd international goal
In the Round of 16 game against Poland, Giroud provided the 1-0 lead for Les Bleus in 44 minutes. While it was his third goal in this World Cup and fourth in his overall World Cup career, it was his 52nd goal in the national team jersey.
Later, in that match, Kylian Mbappé scored twice (74’ and 90’+1’) in brilliant ways to secure the game for Les Bleus. However, in the last kick of the game, Robert Lewandowski scored the consolation goal from a penalty for Poland to end the game with a 3-1 scoreline.
Top 5 most goal scorers for France
Player | Number of goals | World Cup goals |
Olivier Giroud | 52 | 4 |
Thierry Henry | 51 | 6 |
Antoine Griezmann | 42 | 4 |
Michel Platini | 41 | 5 |
Karim Benzema | 37 | 3 |
Kylian Mbappé shined again
While Giroud created a new history in France's football, the 23-year-old unstoppable Kylian Mbappé is in the mood to break many top records, including reputed World Cup records in future. He has already recorded nine World Cup goals at the end of the Round of 16 in this competition. Among the active players, only German footballer Thomas Müller has more World Cup goals than Mbappé as the German footballer scored 10 goals in his World cup career.
Top 5 most goal scorers for France in World Cup
Player | Number of goals | Year (Goals) |
Just Fontaine | 13 | 1958 (13) |
Kylian Mbappé | 9 | 2018 (4) and 2022 (5) |
Thierry Henry | 6 | 1998 (3) and 2006 (3) |
Michel Platini | 5 | 1978 (1), 1982 (2) and 1986 (2) |
Zinedine Zidane | 5 | 1998 (2) and 2006 (3) |
(All stats are updated till 4th December 2022)
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