Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work rate, strength shot power, and consistent goal-scoring ability, he is often considered one of the most underrated strikers in the world.

Giroud began his senior club career playing for his 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 and he was subsequently the subject of a then-club record association football transfer when he moved to Montpellier in a transfer worth €2 million, winning the club’s first Ligue 1 title and finishing as the league’s 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 the top goalscorer in the latter in 2019 then he 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 120 caps, including appearing in six major tournaments. He is his country’s all-time top goalscorer, receiving the Bronze Boot as the 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.

Early life

Olivier Giroud was born in Chambéry, France in the Rhône-Alpes region, and was raised in the nearby village of Frogs, close to Grenoble. Giroud is of Italian descent through both of his grandmothers.

Independently of his professional career, Giroud, after obtaining his baccalaureate in economics and social sciences (ES), completed the second year of a degree in science and techniques of physical and sports activities (STAPS) at the Joseph Fourier University, in Grenoble

Personal life

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 levels, however, he dropped a potential professional career to study and become a nutritionist.

Giroud has been married to Jennifer since 2011 and has four children together and he is an Evangelical Protestant and has a tattoo on his right arm from Psalm 23 in Latin: “Dominus regit me et nihil mihi demerit” (“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want). 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”