Captain of the 2018 world champions, Hugo Lloris (36) announced on Monday that he was drawing a line under the France team, three weeks after the lost final of the 2022 Soccer World Cup, leaving behind him the image of a “quiet” and reliable leader, with record longevity.
“It’s not easy to announce this, but after fourteen years defending this jersey, which I wore with great pleasure, with pride, duty and a sense of responsibility, I believe I have reached the end” , told the French newspaper The Team the goalkeeper with 145 selections, including 121 with the armband on his arm.
The France team is “ready to continue without me”, he said, quoting his designated successor in the tricolor cage, Mike Maignan (27). “I was lucky with my generation to have marked the history of French football and that cannot be taken away from me. »
Launched in 2018 by Raymond Domenech and appointed captain by Laurent Blanc in November 2010, after the fiasco of Knysna, he kept the competition at bay with strong leadership and remarkable parades, which the few balls inherent in this position will not erase. if exposed.
“A very great servant of the France team bows out and I want to salute his exceptional career,” reacted the current coach Didier Deschamps, praising a “remarkable” man who has “always been turned towards the collective”.
The Tottenham Spurs goalkeeper has participated in seven major international tournaments, with three finals: those lost at Euro 2016 and the 2022 World Cup, and that won in Russia in 2018, the second French star twenty years after that won by Deschamps.
Priority to Tottenham
In the Golden Book of the Blues, he appears alongside the greatest goalkeepers, such as Joël Bats and Fabien Barthez, two personalities he consulted before making his decision.
“It’s a relief to say it and that it comes out, I take a weight off myself by announcing it, and I can continue to focus on my daily life with Totthenham”, he says in The Teamacknowledging that he wants to “go out always on top” rather than risk the season too much.
In Qatar, Lloris became the most capped Frenchman in history ahead of Lilian Thuram (142 caps), an almost natural outcome for this great professional who had a smooth and regular career from Nice, his hometown, to Tottenham, where he has been evolving for ten years, passing through Lyon, the scene of his birth.
“Longevity”, “calm”, “tranquility”… Lloris’ virtues were listed by Raphaël Varane, who seconded him as vice-captain in Doha: “I have a lot of respect for the player, for the man It is. It’s a chance to have this stability in the France team. »
This mentality has often allowed him to be decisive and show the way to his partners, with his crucial parades such as against England in the quarters (2-1) or Morocco in the semi-finals (2-0).
What future captain?
“For those who know him closely, he is an irreproachable professional, without concession to himself”, described before the tournament Luc Lloris, his father, to AFP. He also underlined a “personal discipline” which “can arouse the adhesion” of partners and coaches, “even if it is far from being sought”.
“He’s not someone who is very expansive or seeks the light”, said Deschamps of him about his privileged relay, not necessarily the most talkative of his executives.
Discreet with the general public, sometimes even considered too smooth, this father of three children remains in private a man with a strong character, direct and straightforward. “When there is something ambiguous, he does not hide,” assures his father.
Off the field, his choice to quickly give up the inclusive “One Love” armband, assuming he wanted to “keep the focus on the game”, earned him criticism from certain associations.
Tennis player before soccer, Lloris did not choose the position of goalkeeper by chance: he retains a certain independence, a certain individualism within the collective. This autonomy finds an extension in his career, which he manages without agent or official advisers, a rarity.
His international retirement opens the debate of the captaincy in selection. Vice-captain Varane naturally applies, like Kylian Mbappé, strong man of the Blues at 24 years old.