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France has produced a whole host of top-quality strikers, wingers and other forwards over the years.
These are the very best of them, encompassing players who've starred at home, abroad and for the French national team.
Click the arrow above to start the countdown!
32. Andre-Pierre Gignac
A Euro 2016 runner-up with France as they hosted the tournament, Andre-Pierre Gignac was the outlier of that squad: he was the only member not playing his club football in Europe at the time.
Instead, he was rattling in the goals for Mexican outfit Tigres UANL – who he would help to numerous trophies, both domestic and continental, throughout the next decade. He would also become the club’s record scorer.
31. Lucien Laurent
Lucien Laurent only scored two international goals, but his first was one of the most historic in football history: it was the first ever World Cup goal, setting France on their way to a 4-1 win over Mexico in 1930.
A steady goalscorer for a string of French clubs, the pint-sized inside right – who spent three years as a POW during World War II – was the last surviving member of Les Bleus’ 1930 World Cup team, dying in 2005 aged 97.
30. Fleury Di Nallo
Lyon’s all-time leading scorer with 222 goals, Fleury Di Nallo lifted the Coupe de France with his hometown club three times between 1964 and 1973.
Capped 10 times by his country – finding the net on eight occasions – the diminutive Di Nallo was aptly nicknamed ‘Le Petit Prince’ (‘The Little Prince’).
28. Stephane Guivarc'h
Stephane Guivarc’h only earned 14 international caps, but he played a vital role in his nation’s maiden 1998 World Cup triumph as hosts, featuring as the lone striker in Aime Jacquet’s legendary team.
Ligue 1 Golden Boot winner in each of the two seasons leading up to that tournament, Guivarc’h – who banged in the goals for Auxerre, Rennes and Guingamp – only ever scored once for Les Bleus, but his expert hold-up play was invaluable.
27. Louis Saha
A legend at Fulham, Louis Saha lifted the 2000/01 second-tier title with the West London club. Seven years later, he was a back-to-back Premier League champion with Manchester United.
The striker – who was a 2006 World Cup runner-up and later starred for Everton – notched 85 Prem goals overall, a tally which probably would have been considerably higher if not for injuries blighting his career.
26. Joseph Ujlaki
Born in Hungary, Joseph Ujlaki became a naturalised French citizen at the age of 23 and went on to bag 10 goals in 21 caps for Les Bleus.
Up there with the all-time leading scorers in France’s top flight, Ujlaki struck 190 times across spells with Stade Francais, Sete, Nimes, Nice – where he won the league title and Coupe de France – and Racing Paris.
23. Ousmane Dembele
In his mid-20s at the time of writing, Ousmane Dembele is still young enough to creep a bit further up this list – but we’ll play it safe for now.
An electric winger blessed with extraordinary pace, injuries have severely disrupted Dembele’s career, but the player voted Ligue 1’s best youngster of 2015/16 has still played significant roles in major trophy wins at Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona (moving between the two for €105m in 2017) and PSG.
22. Kingsley Coman
Kinglsey Coman achieved the remarkable feat of winning the league title in each of his first 11 seasons as a professional footballer – tasting glory in three different countries, with PSG, Juventus and Bayern Munich.
The hero of Bayern’s 2020 Champions League final victory – when he scored the only goal of the game against PSG – the France regular has proven his versatility by lining up out wide, as an attacking midfielder and even up front.
20. Olivier Giroud
One of France’s most-capped players and, for a while, their record goalscorer, Olivier Giroud’s career will be looked back on as one which saw him establish himself among the game’s very best target men.
As his tally of well over 300 goals for club and country shows, though, the devilishly handsome 2018 World Cup winner was always much more than ‘just’ a target man.
17. Sylvain Wiltord
Part of the sizeable French diaspora who starred for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal during the early 00s, Sylvain Wiltord played a major role in the North London side’s 2001/02 Premier League title triumph – before collecting another winner’s medal as an ‘Invincible’ two seasons later.
Predominantly a right-sided winger, the 1999 French Footballer of the Year – who helped his nation to Euro 2000 glory – recorded 47 goal contributions (31 goals, 16 assists) in 106 Prem appearances, before claiming three straight Ligue 1 titles with Lyon.
16. Roger Piantoni
Another prolific goalscorer in the French top flight, Roger Piantoni netted 203 times in the competition, mostly for the Reims side with whom he reached the 1959 European Cup final.
A triple title winner with Reims and Ligue 1 top scorer on two occasions 10 years apart – as a Nancy player in 1950/51 and for Reims a decade later – Piantoni also helped France to third place at the 1958 World Cup, scoring three goals along the way.
14. Bernard Lacombe
A Euro 1984 winner on home turf, Bernard Lacombe had previously represented his country at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, with his 30-second goal against Italy at the former going down as the quickest ever scored by a French player at the tournament.
13. Nicolas Anelka
A seriously classy operator in the centre-forward position, Nicolas Anelka enjoyed impressive Premier League spells with Arsenal, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Chelsea, winning 1998/99 PFA Young Player of the Year with the former and the 2008/09 Golden Boot with the latter.
11. David Trezeguet
From the moment he clinched Euro 2000 glory with a golden goal against Italy, David Trezeguet was an indisputable France legend – having already played a small role in Les Bleus’ 1998 World Cup triumph as a 20-year-old.
Up there with the world’s very best strikers in his prime, Trezeguet netted 34 times in 71 caps overall, and chalked up 171 goals in 320 games for Juventus – where he won two Serie A titles and was named the league’s 2001/02 Footballer of the Year.
10. Jean-Pierre Papin
Ballon d’Or winner in 1991, Jean-Pierre Papin was as good as unstoppable at his peak, constantly making the net ripple for Marseille and France.
An absolutely clinical marksman with a whole armoury of finishes in his locker, Papin lifted multiple league titles with Marseille and AC Milan – and got his hands on the Champions League with the latter.
9. Robert Pires
Voted Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year for 1995/96, Robert Pires went on to become one of the greatest players in the history of Arsenal and the French national team.
A multiple Premier League and FA Cup winner with the Gunners – starring in their 2003/04 ‘Invincibles’ campaign – and a world and European champion with Les Bleus, the astonishingly gifted winger was also one of the downright coolest footballers of his era.
8. Just Fontaine
Just Fontaine just loved scoring goals, bagging 288 of them in 305 games for club and country over the course of his career, finishing as top scorer in Ligue 1 and the European Cup.
A French league and cup winner with Nice and Reims, Fontaine’s most significant 13 goals all came at the 1958 World Cup – where he fired France, for whom he struck 30 times in 21 caps, to third place. Needless to say, that’s still a record tally for a single edition of the tournament.
7. Antoine Griezmann
Third in the Ballon d’Or voting in 2016 and 2018, Antoine Griezmann played an integral part in France’s 2018 World Cup triumph, finishing among the tournament’s top scorers and converting a penalty in the final against Croatia – whipping out his Fortnite dance moves in celebration.
6. Karim Benzema
Karim Benzema became France’s first Ballon d’Or winner since Zinedine Zidane in 1998 when he took home the 2022 award off the back of a blistering 12 months for Real Madrid.
The Spanish giants second-highest scorer of all time with 354 goals, Benzema – who notched 37 goals in 97 international caps – won four LaLiga titles and five Champions Leagues during a glittering 14-year stay at the Bernabeu.
5. Franck Ribery
Once called the “jewel of French football” by none other than Zinedine Zidane, Franck Ribery firmly established himself as one of the world’s greatest wingers during a glittering 12-year stay at Bayern Munich.
A European champion and multiple domestic champion with the German giants, Ribery – a truly devastating dribbler who amassed 124 Bundesliga assists – starred in his country’s run to the final of the 2006 World Cup.
4. Raymond Kopa
Easily one of the greatest French players of all time in any position, Raymond Kopa went from coal miner in the 40s to football superstar in the 50s and 60s.
An immensely gifted forward with a penchant for dribbling and a great eye for goal, Kopa won the 1958 Ballon d’Or as he starred in his second of three consecutive European Cup triumphs with Real Madrid.
Following his death in 2017, France Football introduced the Kopa Trophy to honour the world’s best young player.
3. Eric Cantona
Arguably Manchester United’s greatest signing of all time, the inimitably brilliant and enigmatic Eric Cantona was the Premier League’s first foreign superstar, scoring some of the most iconic goals in the competition’s history (and delivering its most notable kung fu kick).
A PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year winner in his time at United, Cantona placed third in the 1993 Ballon d’Or voting and briefly captained France – for whom he scored 20 goals in 45 caps (totals which would have been much higher if not for a spat with Gerard Houllier and his omission by Aime Jacquet).
2. Kylian Mbappe
Already well on his way to being one of the greatest players of all time aged 25 at the time of writing, Kylian Mbappe is nothing short of a superstar.
A World Cup winner at just 19 (and not just that but one of the standout players of the 2018 tournament), the lightning-fast PSG forward came agonisingly close to helping France retain their crown four years later – when he became the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to hit a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
1. Thierry Henry
The best player never to win the Ballon d’Or? Quite possibly – not that Thierry Henry needed such physical accolades to prove his greatness. That was never in any doubt.
A 1998 World Cup winner and 2000 European champion, the best player in Premier League history cemented legendary status at Arsenal with season after season of brilliance under Arsene Wenger, starring in two title-winning sides – including the 2003/04 ‘Invincibles’ – and clinching an incredible four Golden Boots between 2002 and 2006.
