Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud got married to Jennifer, his long time girlfriend, in 2011 and the couple gave birth to a daughter named Jade in 2011.

He happens to be a catholic and a highly religious man. He has tattooed a psalm from Bible on his right arm.

He has also been the centre of controversy quite a few times and has been accused of cheating on his wife with a model named Celia Kay and issued an public apology. However, he later denied having any extra-marital affair.

Olivier Giroud was born on September 30, 1986, in a little city located in south-eastern France. He had been a football lover ever since he was a kid and the credit goes to his older brother, Romain, who played football for local clubs. Romain would give essential tips to his little brother, but what came across as a major setback was the fact that Romain eventually gave up on his dreams of being a footballer and started studying to become a nutritionist.

He was 10 years older to Olivier and him backing out like this had a massive impact on Olivier’s psyche but he somehow got enrolled into the Olympique Club de Forges, a nearby club. His association with the club came into motion following his family’s move to a little village called Forges. For the following six years, Olivier worked toward honing his skills and by the time he was a teenager, he was a competitive player waiting to get a chance to play in the bigger games.

At the age of 13, professional club Grenoble took him in and very low on confidence knowing how his brothers had given up on his football dreams, Olivier’s performance got affected greatly. He spent five more years in the youth academy of the club, but was never considered a strong player to play in the bigger leagues. Right before the 2005-06 season, he was named into the club’s reserve team, which was all set to play in Championnat de France Amateur 2, which was one of the lowest levels of French football.

Determined to leave a solid mark on the team management, Olivier scored 15 goals in 15 matches that he played in and over the next seven years, his performance kept gaining attention. Finally in March 2006, the senior team management of Grenoble was compelled to call him in for the first team.

He made his official senior debut in the 2006-07 season and in February 2007, he scored the maiden professional goal of his career against Le Havre. He later described the moment as one of the happiest of his life. However, his overall performance of scoring 2 goals in 18 appearances in his debut season was considered to be average at best.

He didn’t get enough playing time and in order to make up for it, he joined Istres for the 2006-07 season. For them, he played in the Championnat National, which is considered to be the third level in French football. By the end of the loaning period, the stint was considered to be a success as he managed to score 14 goals for his team in different matches.

As he came back to Grenoble, he came to know that his team was now qualified to be a part of Ligue 1 and Olivier had high hopes to play in major leagues. But somehow, he wasn’t considered ‘fit’ to be a part of the main team and in 2008, the announcement became official that Olivier was to be let go by the team management.

In May 2008, an announcement came to light regarding the association of Olivier with the Ligue 2 club Tours over a three years deal. In Coupe de France during his first season with Tours, Olivier scored 5 goals in the first 2 matches and despite the club’s ouster from the league, Olivier’s performance was hailed. He further kept shining on the field and ended his first season with Tours with 14 goals in 27 appearances.

Montpellier club eyed Olivier and signed him on in July 2010. In his debut match for his new club on 29th July, Olivier scored a goal and was off to a brilliant start. In Coupe de La Ligue, the team reached the final, which was a pleasant surprise and most credit went to Olivier as he consistently scored goals in crucial matches.