Top 10 French footballers of all time

French football has a rich history and has produced some of the finest footballers the world has ever seen.

France is one of the most successful football teams internationally. The two FIFA world cup winners have produced exceptional football talents for a long time. Here are the greatest French footballers.

The France national football team also known as Les Bleus won their first world cup in 1988 defeating Brazil in the final by 3-0. The France players showed an amazing performance in Russia in 2018 and lifted their second FIFA World cup. The team also has two FIFA Confederation cups in its trophies cabinet.

1. Raymond Kopa

In the 1950s, Raymond Kopa was a central midfielder. He played for Reims, Angers, and Real Madrid, among others. Between 1957 and 1959, he won three European Champions Cups and two La Ligas with Real Madrid. Kopa won the French league with Stade Reims four times and the French Super Cup once.

kop won the  Ballon d’Or in 1958 because he played so well for Real Madrid. He has played for such a French national football team 46 times and has won 18 goals. He has played in two World Cups.

2. Just Fontaine

Even though France was expected to do well at the 1958 World Cup, they only came in third, but Fontaine left an impression that will last. He scored 13 goals, which is still a World Cup record. Four of those goals came during the playoff game against West Germany.

In his first game for France, he scored three goals against Luxembourg in a 1954 World Cup qualifying game. The 80-year-best old’s time with a club was with Place de Reims, where he helped them win the Ligue 1 name three times. He also scored 10 goals in the 1958–59 European Cup, even though his team, Reims, lost the final to Real Madrid.

3. Jean-Pierre Papin

Papin was a striker or forward for some of the best teams in the world, including Marseille, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, and Bordeaux. He played for Marseille for 265 games and scored an amazing 174 goals. He also helped the team win four League 1 titles and one French Cup.

He has won three Serie A titles, one Italian Super Cup, and one UEFA Champions League title with AC Milan. In 1991, he won the Ballon d’Or. He is now a manager. Some of the French teams he has managed are Lens, Chateauroux, and Strasbourg.

4. Marcel Desailly

Marcel Desailly’s 20-year profession with his teams and France’s national league was very successful. He was a good center-back and a good defensive midfielder. The legendary player is one of the few to have won the UEFA Champions Cup with two different clubs in two straight years. He did it by having won it with Marseille in 1993 and with AC Milan in 1994.

With AC Milan, he won two Serie A titles and one European Super Cup. With Chelsea, he won one FA Cup, one European Super Cup, and two English Super Cups. Desailly is one of the best football players France has ever had, and he was on the team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the Euro 2000. He has played 116 games for his country.

5. Lilian Thuram

It’s no accident that the French player with the most appearances is also regarded as one of the best. Thuram was an important part of the golden age of French football. He scored his only two goals for France in the semi-final of the 1998 World Cup. He also took part in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 European Championships.

He made a record 16 showings in this tournament. He also took part in the 2002 and 2006 International Games. During his time in the international system, he played an active role, which was impressive since many people were demoted to small parts.

He was named man of the match in the semi-final of the 2006 World Cup, and he was captain of his country for the Euro 2008 tournament.

6. Marcel Desailly

Desailly, who has 116 caps and a winner’s medal from both the World Cup and the European Championships, might feel slighted that he didn’t make the top ten. However, the quality of the players ahead of him is so high that the commanding center-back only makes it to 12th. Even though Desailly was sent off in the 1998 World Cup final, he had already proven to be an important part of the team.

He continued to play that role very well at Euro 2000. He became a coach after Didier Deschamps left the international scene. In 2001, he led France to win the Confederations Cup. In 2003, he became the French player with the most caps ever, with 116.

Since then, just Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry have played more games for France.

7. Eric Cantona

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that perhaps the blistering Cantona’s international career was full of scandals. He had problems with his managers, Henri Michel, and L’a Jacquet, and because of that, he didn’t get to play in Euro ’96, which was a big tournament. Still, he scored an impressive 20 goals for his country, including both in a 2-1 win over Sweden in World Cup qualifying.

After a string of incidents got him kicked out of Ligue 1, he moved across the Channel and helped Leeds United win the title in 1992. Then he joined Manchester United, where he led the team to multiple Premier League titles and two FA Cups.

He became a legend at Old Trafford. He didn’t have an easy time with the Red Devils, but it’s safe to say that people in England like him more than they do in France.

8. Michel Platini

Michel Platini was one of the best football players in history. He was quick, stylish, and had a positional discipline that would make Paul Pogba cry. Le Roi was also very good at scoring goals. He was the top scorer throughout Italian football at such a period when defenses were tougher than Cantona jokes, and even though Platini wasn’t very athletic, he could weave through opponents like traffic cones.

If he played, you couldn’t help but watch how he moved. And everybody liked him. Before moving to Serie A, he was the best player at Saint-Etienne. In 1983, he was the runner-up for the European Cup. In 1984, he helped France win Euro 84, and in 1985, he managed to win the European Cup with Juventus. Each year, he won the Ballon d’Or.

Platini was magnificent, and he is most likely the most gifted Frenchman to ever win the World Cup.

9. Thierry Henry

Henry might be the best La Liga player of all time, but Arsenal only paid £11 million for him in 1999, which is a steal compared to how much players cost now. He scored 228 goals for the Gunners in all competitions and is still their all-time leading scorer. During his time at Highbury, he won two Premier League championships and two FA Cups.

His four Ligue 1 Golden Sneakers are history, and he played for Arsenal during their “Invincible” season when they didn’t lose a single game. He later transferred to Barcelona, in where he won a legendary triple crown, and he is France’s all-time leading scorer with 123 aims in 51 games.

Henry is the G.O.A.T. He has won the French Player of the Year award five times.

10. Zinedine Zidane

Zidane was one of the best players of all time. His elegance with the ball, control, technique, and pinpoint accuracy put him in the conversation about the best players ever. Zidane won the Ballon d’Or in 1998, scored twice in the World Cup Final in 1998, and was named Player of the Tournament so if France won the Euro 2000.

He was legendarily expelled from the 2006 World Cup match, which France lost to Italy. After 108 shields for his country, he decided to hang up his boots. At the club level, he won two Serie A titles with Juventus and the La Liga title with Real Madrid.

During his time at Madrid, he also won the Champions League in 2001-02. In that game, he scored one of the best goals of all time with a left-foot volley as the game’s winner.

Conclusion

These footballers have left an indelible mark on French football and their contributions will forever be remembered in the annals of football history.