France top scorers of all time: Giroud, Henry and players with most goals

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 10 Jan 2023 11:10 GMT
• 3 min read

Olivier Giroud is the highest scorer in the history of the France national team with 53 goals.

Giroud surpassed Thierry Henry by breaking the deadlock just before half-time of France's last-16 World Cup game against Poland. He then went further clear at the top of the charts by grabbing the winner in a 2-1 quarter-final victory over England.

France’s leading scorers are largely drawn from the last couple of decades, although some greats from the past are thrown in for good measure.

Who is France’s record goal scorer?

Olivier Giroud pulled level with Henry as France's all-time leading marksman with a brace against Australia in the World Cup 2022 group stages, drawing alongside the former Arsenal star with 51 goals for les Bleus.

Giroud then made the record his own by slotting the ball home from Kylian Mbappe's through ball against Poland. A second-half header vs England then took him to 53 goals all-time for Les Bleus and saw France progress to a last-four showdown with Morocco.

A late bloomer in professional football Giroud’s persistence and determination have been among his key traits as he continues to impress for AC Milan in Serie A.

Henry is also Arsenal’s leading scorer. He represented France between 1997 and 2010, collecting 123 caps and featuring in the squads that won both World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000.

Rounding out the top three is Antoine Griezmann on 42 goals. The Atletico Madrid attacker was one of the star performers at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he scored a string of important goals to help France to the trophy.

Karim Benzema, meanwhile, is the other active player in the top five. The Real Madrid hitman is on 37 goals and will have one eye on overtaking the legendary Michel Platini when he returns from the thigh injury which kept him out of the World Cup. His tally is lower than it might have been due to a spell in the international wilderness.

Mbappe's goals at the World Cup have taken him past legends Jean-Pierre Papin and Just Fontaine, who are on 30.

Perhaps the most remarkable scoring statistics, though, belong to Just Fontaine, who scored 30 goals in just 21 internationals, including five hat-tricks. Fontaine won his caps from 1953-1960, scoring a record 13 goals in the 1958 World Cup, which is a mark that still stands.