#6 France
France have been one of the dominant football nations from Europe. The French have tasted World Cup glory, lifting the title in 1998 and reaching the finals in 2006. The French reached their zenith under the leadership of midfield maestro Zinedine Zidane.
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Thierry Henry has been France’s most successful striker on the world stage. Henry was instrumental in France's successful campaigns at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2000 European Nations Cup. He ended as their leading goal scorer with 51 goals. France also produced a plethora of quality strikers in Youri Djorkaeff, David Trezeguet and Sebastien Wiltord.
Michel Platini was Les Blues’ most gifted player. The versatile forward led them to victory in the 1984 Euro Cup. For most of the 80s, Platini had good company up front from Jean-Pierre Papin.
Meanwhile, the likes of Eric Cantona, David Ginola and Nicolas Anelka showed flashes of brilliance on the world stage. The enigmatic striker Karim Benzema proved his goal scoring ability at the 2012 Euro Nations Cups and 2014 FIFA World Cup.
France currently have a lethal strike force with clinical strikers in Antoine Greizmann and Olivier Giroud. Both the strikers have been superlative form, netting goals aplenty in their World Cup qualification campaign. Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe is emerging as one of the finest strikers in world football.
Leading goal scorers for France
1 Thierry Henry 51
2 Michel Platini 41
3 David Trezeguet 34
4 Olivier Giroud and Zinedine Zidane 31
6 Just Fontaine and Jean-Pierre Papin 30
8 Youri Djorkaeff 28
9 Karim Benzema 27
10 Sylvain Wiltord 26
11 Antoine Griezmann 23
12 Jean Nicolas 21
14 Paul Nicolas and Eric Cantona 20
