Where does Karim Benzema rank among the best French players in history?
4. Didier Deschamps
One of France’s most popular defensive players, Didier Deschamps played as a defensive midfielder for clubs like Nantes, Marseille, Bordeaux, Juventus, Chelsea, and Valencia. And, he won a lot of titles with them too. He has two UEFA Champions Leagues, one with Juventus and one with Marseilles in their famous run of 1992/93. He won the UEFA Super Cup with the old lady too, alongside bagging all domestic honors. He further helped Chelsea to one FA Cup title.
On the International front is where Didier’s main show begins. He won the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championships in 2000 with Les Bleus. He ultimately retired at 104 caps for the national side in which he scored four goals. And not to forget he is one of the only three footballers on earth to have won the World Cup both as a player and as a manager. He achieved this feat when Les Blues won the World Cup in 2018 under his management.
3. Lilian Thuram
On number three, we have the most capped French player of all time with 142 caps. Hugo Lloris is quickly catching up on that number and he might soon surpass the legend. But, there’s one thing that’ll still keep Thurram at such a high position and that is how much the French people admired him.
One of the most admired French defenders, Thurram was a utility man for Les Bleus who could play both as a center-back and a right-back. It was only because of his versatile qualities that the national side relied so heavily on his defensive duties. He won the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championships in 2000 alongside featuring in the 2006 World Cup where France finished in second place.
He famously scored his two international goals in the semifinal of the 1998 World Cup. He was named the man of the match in the 2006 World Cup semifinal and he also led the Les Bleus as their captain in the 2008 European Championships. On the club level, major titles are scares but he did win the Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona in 2007 as well as two Serie A titles and an Italian Super Cup with Juventus.