Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud

Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer. He plays as a forward for Premier League club Chelsea and the France national team. He began his career at Grenoble in Ligue 2 before joining Tours in 2008. In 2011, he was the division’s top scorer with 21 goals, earning him a move to Montpellier. He was again the top scorer in the 2011–12 season, giving the club their first ever Ligue 1 title before moving to Arsenal. He won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and totalled 105 goals in 253 games for the club. In January 2018, he transferred to Chelsea where, in his first full season, he became the first

About Olivier Giroud in brief

Summary Olivier GiroudOlivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer. He plays as a forward for Premier League club Chelsea and the France national team. He began his career at Grenoble in Ligue 2 before joining Tours in 2008. In his second season at Tours, he was the division’s top scorer with 21 goals, earning him a move to top-flight side Montpellier. Giroud was again the top scorer in the 2011–12 season, giving the club their first ever Ligue 1 title before moving to Arsenal. He won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and totalled 105 goals in 253 games for the club. In January 2018, he transferred to Chelsea where, in his first full season, he became the first player from the club to score more than 10 goals in a single European campaign. He has since become the nation’s second-highest goalscorer with 44 goals in 105 caps, and was part of the teams which reached the quarter-finals at UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the final of UEFA Euro 2016, and won the 2018 World Cup. He was born in Chambéry, France in the Rhône-Alpes region, and is of Italian descent through both of his grandmothers. He spent six years training at the club’s youth academy before signing his first professional contract at the age of 21.

He made his professional debut on 27 March 2006 appearing as a late-match substitute in a 1–1 draw with Gueugnon. In the 2007–08 season, Giroud spent the 2007-08 season on loan at Istres in the Championnat National, the third level of football in France. He described the goal as ‘a fantastic memory’ and said: ‘I could not dream better for a first pro goal’. After a successful loan stint, he returned to the Stade Parsemain in January 2014. He finished the season with 14 goals in 14 games, and scored four goals in four league games against Paris Martigues, Vannes and Créteil. He scored his first double of the season in a 2–0 win over Arles-Avignon later that month in a 3–2 win over Pau. In April 2014, he scored goals in back-to-back matches against Vannis and Arles back-back in a 2-0 win against Arles Avignannes and 2-1 win over Beauvais. In November 2014, after going through the months of November and December without scoring a league goal, he converted two goals at the Parse main stadium. He later scored a four-goal hat-trick against Vannes. In March 2015, he made his debut for Arsenal in a 4–1 win away to Laval in the Capital One Cup. In August 2015, Girouard scored a brace against Laval in a 5–1 victory over Laval.