Antoine Griezmann

Lore & Background

Griezmann began his senior club career with Spanish side Real Sociedad in 2009, where he had previously been a youth graduate, and won the Segunda División in his first season. In 2014, he joined Atlético Madrid for a then-club record €30 million. In his second season, he was awarded La Liga Best Player and was integral to Atlético reaching the UEFA Champions League final, eventually finishing in third place for both the Ballon d'Or and Best FIFA Men's Player. Two years later, he won the UEFA Europa League and was named the competition's Player of the Season. In 2019, he departed Atlético for Barcelona in a transfer worth €120 million. Despite winning his first major domestic title, the Copa del Rey in 2021, Griezmann experienced a decline in form. Ahead of 2021–2022, he returned to Atlético and became the club's all-time top goalscorer in early 2024. In his final season, Griezmann recorded his 200th goal and his 100th assist for Atlético, and scored five goals in six games to help the club reach the Copa del Rey final, which they lost. After 17 years in Spain, Griezmann relocated to the United States to join Orlando City. Griezmann won the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship with France and made his senior debut in 2014. He went on to earn 137 caps and score 44 goals, ranking as France's third-most capped player and fourth-highest goalscorer as well as the leading assist provider. Griezmann was the top goalscorer and named Player of the Tournament as hosts France finished runners-up at UEFA Euro 2016. He then won the Silver Boot, the Bronze Ball, and was named man of the match in the final as France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup. At the 2022 World Cup, Griezmann played as an attacking midfielder as France finished runners-up. He retired from international football in 2024.

In Their Own Story

The stadium is a cauldron of white and red, the air thick with the smell of cut grass and nervous sweat. Extra time. 1-1. The Croatia keeper, Subašić, is breathing heavy, hands on his knees. Griezmann walks to the spot. He taps the ball back and forth with his right foot, then his left. The crowd noise is a single sustained note, a drone that vibrates in the sternum. He takes three steps. The strike is not powerful—it is precise, low, to the keeper's left. The ball kisses the net. For one second, silence. Then the world detonates. Griezmann does not run to the corner flag. He turns, jogs back to the centre circle, and lets the chaos wash over him. Somewhere in the stands, a father in a blue scarf is weeping into his hands. Somewhere in a flat in Mâcon, a mother is pressing her palms to her eyes. The penalty was never really about the penalty. It was about every training session at 6 a.m., every pass made into space that nobody saw, every time he dropped to midfield to collect the ball so someone else could be free. It was all of it, compressed into one cold, low strike in the Moscow night.

Reader's Guide

Griezmann began his career playing for hometown club UF Mâconnais. While there, he embarked on several trials with professional clubs, including Lyon, but was rejected because clubs questioned his small frame. In 2005, while on trial with Montpellier, he played in a friendly match against the youth academy of Paris Saint-Germain in Paris, and impressed Spanish club Real Sociedad, whose French scout Éric Olhats was attending the event. Olhats offered Griezmann a one-week trial in San Sebastián, which he accepted. He was later offered a second-week stay and then a youth contract. Griezmann's parents were initially reluctant but allowed him to move to Spain. He lodged with the club's French scout while attending school across the border in Bayonne, training in the evenings. After four years in the club's youth system, he made his debut, called up by Martín Lasarte for Real Sociedad's 2009–10 pre-season campaign. In the pre-season, he scored five goals in four appearances and an injury to the team's regular left-winger led to Lasarte selecting him for the start of the season, bypassing the reserve team. On 2 September 2009, Griezmann made his competitive debut in the Copa del Rey against Rayo Vallecano. Four days later, he made his league debut against Real Murcia. On 27 September, he made his first professional start and scored his first professional goal against Huesca. He appeared consistently for the rest of the season, scoring two more goals in wins over Cádiz and Numancia as Real Sociedad earned promotion to La Liga as league winners. On 8 April 2010, he signed a five-year deal with a release clause of €30 million. He made his La Liga debut on 29 August 2010. On 25 October, he scored his first league goal against Deportivo La Coruña. On 28 July 2014, Atlético Madrid reached an agreement for his transfer for a fee close to his €30 million buy-out clause. He signed a six-year contract on 29 July. He made his debut in the first leg of the 2014 Supercopa de España on 19 August. On 17 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a Champions League group stage match against Olympiacos. He netted a brace in a 4–2 win over Córdoba on 1 November.

Did You Know?

• Griezmann was born on 21 March 1991 in the commune of Mâcon in the department of Saône-et-Loire.
• His father, Alain Griezmann, has distant German and Luxembourgish ancestry; his mother, Isabelle Lopes, is of Portuguese descent.
• Griezmann's maternal grandfather, Amaro Lopes, was a Portuguese footballer for Paços de Ferreira.
• As a child, Griezmann often spent his holidays in Paços de Ferreira, Portugal.
• Griezmann's first professional contract with Real Sociedad had a release clause of €30 million.