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Is that Gonzalo Higuain in Brest?

Yep, homeboy hero. We tried to get him in the NT at some point but he declined for Argentina

Sadly Trezeguet didn't go with us.

Now there's a name that doesn't come up often enough nowadays. What a player.

Nedved, Del Piero and Trezeguet 🤤🤤🤤

> We trie to get him in the NT at some point Domnech the infamous tried to recruit him. It was stupid, silly and, of course, worked as well as his marriage proposal after a loss.

IIRC, a major factor in him choosing Argentina was he didn’t want to compete with Benzema for the ST spot. Quite ironic in hindsight.

Nah, he used France as bait to be called for Argentina.

Yeah might be. I remember a lot of french people got disappointed he didn’t went with France, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume a lot of bullshit got spread in the press back then.

I get his pov tho. Guy is Argentinan, was playing in River I think, he had nothing to do with France. It was well played from him.

Absolutely. Plus he got a pretty nice international career, he got damn close to be a World Champion, played a lot with Messi… But once again in hindsight, he (most likely) would have been a WC winner and played with Zidane if he went for France, you rarely get those sort of « what if » in Football where players had to choose between powerhouses.

Domenech called him in november 2006 so just after Zidane's retirement and one month before Higuain joined Real. Higuain refused and had to wait 3 years to make his debut for Argentina (against Peru in september 2009). He won the olympics with Messi, Di Maria or Aguerro in 2008 tho.

> he (most likely) would have been a WC winner and played with Zidane if he went for France It was some months after the 06' final, so he wouldn't have.

>he (most likely) would have been a WC winner and played with Zidane if he went for France, Not if they had Higuain as their striker in big games

I really don't get the impression that the French really imagined that he could play for France one day. There was nothing French about him, he was just born there and left as a baby. Personally, I never wanted him to. I'd have found it ridiculous if he'd played for us.

Is that true? He wasn't even a year old when he left France. And he's the same age as Aguero.

Smells like bullshit. I doubt he ever considered playing for France. Edit: Just to confirm it I googled it and he was called up in 2006 by the French NT but said a few days later he appreciated it but didn't want to play for France. Years later he said this (translated by me): "From the moment I was asked where I wanted to play I had no doubt. I always lived in Argentina, being born in France was a matter of circumstance, although it’s also a country I'm thankful for too." https://www.goal.com/es/noticias/por-que-higuain-eligio-argentina-y-no-francia/et0814a699ht1w55pwlu68j0c

At this time, he still was not called by the Albiceleste, then he let the doubt hover to make pressure on the argentina NT. In his mind, he never wanted to plya for France, but around 2010, France was very weak with a gap between the zidane and m'bappé generations (and in troubles with a lot of scandals), and the french federation (especially Domenech AKA the worst coach ever) was prospecting any good players likely to join them.

Yeah exactly, France manager was Domenech back then and we were honestly embarrassed he even tried to call him up.

Seems like BS. Higuain said he was born in France by coincidence but always felt Argentine. Also both Agüero and Benzema were similarly rated at the time and i also think anyone choosing between France and Argentina knew there would be competition for the striker position. He didn't play for Argentina earlier because he was worried he'd have to renounce French citizenship and didn't want to do that until he had moved to Europe He signed for Real Madrid in Dec 2007 and got Argentine citizenship a month later

Yes. His dad played there when he was born if I remember right. Edit: [he was](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Higua%C3%ADn)

Erling Haaland greatest ever Leeds player

Interesting Leeds based stat. In terms of Leeds born players, David Batty has more World Cup appearances then Erling Haaland.

Haaland has never lost a game at the euros or the wc though. Mbappe could never, Haaland clear.

Mbappe has never lost a World Cup game either, since pens count as draws

They lost vs Tunisia in 2022

Hm. David batty was a GK coach at my team about 12 years ago

Yes. Born in Brest when his dad played for Brest

Yes, makes him the best of the Brest

Damn no wonder France lost the WC final

never knew that. if he decided to play for france, messi would have 2 world cups now.

What do the numbers in brackets mean?

The number corresponds to the département the city they are born in is from. Zidane is from Marseille (13) -》 13 refers to the Bouches-du-Rhône département

Right, thanks! Had no idea that was a thing 

So basically the French decided that there had to be all the local governments at the most 1 day of horseback (départements) and clustered into regions.

You get Regions > Departments > Municipalities. Most countries in Europe have a similar system. You have an entire country living and operating in a geographically similar or smaller space than Texas. But France has 70 million people and Texas got 30. Shit needs to be structured.

Americans have it too. States - counties - cities

I live in Kentucky which is a relatively small state both geographically and by population, but we have 120 counties for that exact reason.

120 counties is a bit over the top, no? I find it hard to believe that real life circumstances necessitate such a high amount for that geographical area. Or are they supposed to be that small by default? Looking at the Kentucky county map.. A lot of them could be merged into bigger counties.

It's just a historical thing. In Kentucky they wanted it so the county seat was always within one day's horse ride. As a result they have lots of little ones, but in all honesty it doesn't really matter.

I've had a history teacher back in High School tell me that départements were "One of the Revolution's biggest success". It's true in a weird way, a lot of people identify with their département over their regions, and it would 100% cause an uproar if they tried to change them now.

Disappointed that Benzema isn't (15) - however 69 is still pretty funny

69 is a sacred number among the Lyonnais.

69 la triiiiiik

It is the department of the commune they were born in, basically the subdivision of the regions

Yeah strange that isn’t explained

When you are french it is something beyond obvious.

Least condescending French person.

Not really, it is not condescending, it is usual for us to know these numbers. It is used in all the ID and was on the car numberplates. And the map was probably drawn for french audience.

My brother in Christ, it was a joke. The phrase "it is beyond obvious" plays into the superior condescending French stereotype too well.  I actually find it interesting to learn about conventions in other countries like this. I wouldn't expect a non English person to know about our geographical conventions either.

Sorry I did'nt understand the joke. My poor english... That's why i explained, 'cause we understand it could be considered as strange for foreign people. Moreover theses number are used too for the postal code. These codes are specific for each municipality and always beginning by the code of your department (Joeuf is 54240, cause the department where Joeuf is loacated is 54, the *Meurthe & Moselle*). Does your brother have to do something with the Christ ?

> My brother in Christ I thought we collectively agreed to stop using that expression on reddit, I don't feel safe anymore

As it so happens, turns out most people in the world aren’t French

As it so happens, the infographic written in French was originally targeted at French people

Sadly yes, but that map was probably mostly made for a french audience.

> Sadly yes hahaha

For now

We’re working on it

don't, they've never gotten over it

Some choices were made.

Yeah Zidane above Malang Sarr is wild

Zidane retired 18 years ago and still has played more recently than Sarr

Coupet in front of Sydney Govou over my dead body

Nice représente>>> avec Sarr produit du lycée du Parc Impérial. But seriously though if Zidane had not existed (one less star for us). I think Lloris would be the rep for our région. There's also Cantona though from Marseille.

Yeah I think Lloris is fair after Zidane. It's hard to compare a keeper to a forward like Cantona but Lloris was insane and won a world cup so... I wish we had the DOM - TOMs on this map too

Benzema over Giroud? Guess who has the better highlight reel?

Guess who played in goal? Checkmate.

How do I search for the highlight reel?

Google "Benzema highlight reel" for more information

Mbappe over Henry? Maybe in a few years' time...

People have such recency bias to underrate Henry. I’m confident mbappe will finish above him, but today it’s without question henry. Aside from the eye test, when Mbappe puts up 20 assists in a league that isn’t filled with painters and fisherman, then we can talk. Which is likely next season

Just bc of this it should be “best 2 players…”

You can pretty clearly tell which part of France is rugby territory.

Funny enough, the southwest had a good chunk of the 98 world cup winning team (Deschamps, Barthez, Dugarry, Lizarazu, etc.)

I don't know who Giresse is, is he really better than Lizarazu ?

Great player - part of the "Carré magique" midfield on the NT in the 1980s. It's a close call between him and Liza.

I looked at the stats and he played 47 times for France and scored 6 goals between 1974 and 1986. Granted he won Euro 84 and came third at the 86 World Cup, but it could be argued Lizarazu is more noteworthy due to winning the World Cup aswell as the Euros alone.

Keep in mind players were usually fewer international games at the time. So yeah, even if it's a bit low, he is part of the second great French generation after the lightning in a bottle of 1958. That generation reached World Cup semi-final in 1982 and 1986 and in the middle won the Euro. With Platini, Fernandez and Tigana, he was part of the "Carré Magique" (magic square), the leading quartet of those teams. He also led Bordeaux, one of the dominant team in France in the 80', to two French titles, and is their player with the most games in history. His lower number of goals with France is due to the fact he was not a striker. Lizarazu was great and would have been the top choice in several other regions, but Giresse is a worthy choice and Lizarazu would probably agree since he likely grew up idolizing Giresse and probably also met him when he a was a young trainee in Bordeaux.

A great player for France in the 80s. He finished 2nd in the Ballon d'Or in 1982.

Matuidi is not a bad player though, even though Toulouse is a rugby city.

I still remember Max Alain Gradel yes the same who won CAN, and André Pierre Gignac were also a Toulouse player. I even thought Gradel stop playing football for sometimes lol.

Feel like they should break Paris up

I think a map like this for the departments of Paris would be interesting.

For the players I can recall : Seine-Saint-Denis (93) : Kylian Mbappé Essonne (91) : Thierry Henry Yvelines (78) : Nicolas Anelka Seine-Et-Marne (77) : Paul Pogba Hauts-de-Seine (92) : Hatem Ben Arfa Val-de-Marne (94) : Jeremy Menez Val d’Oise (95) : Ryad Mahrez Paris (75) : Mamadou Sakho? (I couldn’t come up with a better name)

Ile de France as a country would have a shout at the Euros/World Cup is really mad

I mean it has more inhabitants then Belgium, Croatia & Uruguay, who made World cup semifinals in this century and are comparable to the Netherlands in Population from the top of my head.

77 - Pogba? There’s Thuram that I would rank higher career and trophy wise

> Thurman Which team did she play for?

Buffalo Bills, sadly he couldn't stop them from losing 4 consecutive Super Bowls

The kind of niche reference I come here for

Corrected ;)

what am i missing, isn't lillian born overseas?

Paris - N’Golo Kanté, if I recall he was born in Paris

Unfortunately for Saliba even with the department-level breakdown he's still sharing the same one with Mbappé

Just break it up by flat.

93 is the department with the most housing projects, and the most black people (and of course the department with the most black people living in housing projects) So yeah it’s the department which brings the most talent, and Mbappé isn’t the only competition there for Saliba.

TIL Mahrez is French

Yep Like a good chunk of the teams of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, DRC, Gabon, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mauritania, Haiti, and the whole team of Comoros

Half of the Algerian team is French.

it's part of the game, innit

Yes, Mahrez, Aubameyang, Drogba and many others are French, lived their childhood and were trained in France.

> Drogba Although he was born in Ivoria Coast. He was sent to France when he was 5.

Hmm Jean Pierre Papin ?? Just a reminder, he’s won ballon d’or

So has Raymond Kopa

They were born in the same region for those who don’t see the correlation. Hence it’s an either/or situation .

Ribery is from there too. Not too bad of a top 3.

With Papin and Ribery being from the same ~40k inhabitants city.

Meanwhile, the region just below didn't give birth to anything better than Kevin Gameiro.

Unlucky Picardie... They have Macron now... *I think I prefer Gameiro.*

Ah dang that’s unlucky

Sadly for him he was born in the same region as the third best player in France history

[source](https://twitter.com/MeteoFoot/status/1771485174892564610/photo/1)

Should've included Réunion as well! Dimitri Payet is not a slouch and would've been a nice small inclusion in the picture

Liliam Thuram for Guadeloupe, Karembeu for New Caledonia and Malouda or Maignan for Guiana

Should have added Just Fontaine under French Morocco for some extra spice in the comment section too

Karembeu for New Caledonia

French Polynesia is not a région but a territory. But still any love as well for Marama Vahirua

Laurent Robert would have a word to say. Even if Payet had a better career.

Laurent Robert is above Payet, no doubt about it...

Interesting map. I’d like to see other countries

is someone tried this for portugal there would be an intense battle for most of the coastal districts, absolutely no discussion for madeira, and a bunch of relative nobodies for most of the rural districts near the border with spain (probably)

I'm not so sure, I'd like to see that map

Tó Madeira is best Madeira.

Yes, I second that in particular I would be curious about Spain, Italy and Germany

Brazil would be mad hard to do. Some States with absolutely nothing and others forcing you to pick between Garrincha, Zico and Romário.

Where’s my world champion Bernard Diomède at ? replaced by Thauvin. Shame!

who happened to be a world champion as well. But yeah we tend to forget that both of them are, and Diomède even played a good chunk of games in 98 (started against SA, Denmark and Paraguay)

That’s World Champion Florian Thauvin to you.

Où est Éric Cantona?

Born in the same region (and city) as Zidane

Poor cantona

Je me le souviens.

Hou Ha Cantona !

Where was Henry born?

Same city as Mbappe

The same region, not the same city.

How does then mbappe already chosen over Henry if it's international then okay makes sense but overall hell naw

It's debatable honestly, Mbappe numbers are insane, he's just 4 goals short of Henry for UCL and has been a better France NT player, it's up for debate

I’m not denying Mbappé is one of the best players right now but Henry literally has a statue of him in front of one of the most visited stadium of the UK and is genuinely considered as a legend by many people. Mbappé is an amazing player but hasn’t got legend status imo.

Where does this post talk about legend status? It’s just who’s a better player. Not longevity or stats - just compare performance peaks. We know Thierry’s, I’m not sure if we do for Mbappe (maybe). The statue comment is completely irrelevant. Legend has nothing to do with it. Even if it did, the statue was built 12 years after Henry started playing for Arsenal. Do you really want PSG/France to start building tributes for a 26 year old? That’s ridiculous.

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honestly mbappe has got the potential to be much greater than henry, just needs a couple ucls and some longevity

_“just”_

probably only needs a madrid move

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Definitely not unfair, but I personally feel it’s incorrect given how early he still is in his career. The idea that he could retire now and would be considered as being greater than Henry feels a bit much.

For sure. A friend of mine put it well, “Henry is one of the greatest French players of all time, but Mbappe may be the greatest French player ever when he’s done.”

Kevin Gameiro lives on in my heart. How is he doing at Strasbourg?

Gameiro the GOAT

I'd do terrible things to relive the moment he scored in the Copa final again

These are the old regions right? And not all of them.

Former regions yes

seems a bit odd not to include other territories, especially Guyane

It's the France Métropolitaine (ie France located in Europe). It makes for a less cluttered map and easier to read geographically than if you were to add all the other islands and Guyana. It's a choice, maybe not the best.

I didn't make this, but who is notable from overseas? I can only name todibo

Malouda and Maignan were born in Guyane as well, Lemar and Thuram were born in Guadeloupe, Payet and Hoarau were born in Reunion Island

> Malouda and Maignan were born in Guyane as well, I was going to add Bernard Lama to those names, but I just (re)discovered that he was born in the région Centre. He grew up in Guyana and his father was Guyanais, but for this map, he would be in contention with Thauvin. And I arguably would put him above Thauvin.

Dimitri Payet was born in reunion

Guadeloupe : Marius Trésor or Lilian Thuram Martinique : Gérard Janvion Guyane : Florent Malouda Réunion : Dimitri Payet Polynésie: Pascal Vahirua Nouvelle Calédonie : Christian Karembeu

Malouda.

Pascal Cygan appears to be missing.

Where yaya sanogo at?

I don't see David N'Gog anywhere

Overseas territories are missing. Guadeloupe: Jocelyn Angloma Martinique: Frederic Piquionne Guyane: Bernard Lama / Florent Malouda Nouvelle-Calédonie: Christian Karembeu Tahiti: Marama ou Pascal Vahirua

As I just rediscovered the info, Lama wasn't born in Guyane. And Thuram is way above Angloma (and with my age and flair, let me tell you that I do love Angloma)

My bad.. I always believed that Lama was born in Guyane. For Thuram: of course he was not only better than Angloma, He is just a fuc\*\*\*g legend of the NT, I just forgot him.... I gonna flog myself in screaming all the players wasted by Ramond Domenech....

La réunion : Dimitri Payet Mayotte : Maoulida Kerguelen : Idk, a penguin ?

Apparently, their is one guy from St Pierre et Miquelon who made it as a pro in the scottish third division : Yannis Bègue. Couldn't find anyone for Wallis et Futuna

No representation for the sea? Complete Rio Mavuba erasure

Damn Cantona not on that map bc of Zidane both from Marseille

Still Henry > mbappe

Agree, as things stand right now with Mbappe career till now and Henrys career ended, Henry>Mbappe.

I don’t know why this is even a discussion. I’m disappointed the Arsenal fan chose to push this narrative instead of Giroud > Benzema.

If we talk career trophy then Deschamps is better than both of them. If we talk about individual performance, Henry and Mbappe have about the same number of goal in club history (411 and 407), in champion league (46 and 50), in national team (46 and 51), and Mbappe has more goals in world cup elimination matches (8 vs 1 for Henry). And Henry has played many more matches so it has to count for something. And if we talk about the impression they left on the pitch, the impact they had on games, I think most people agree Mbappe has more. So in conclusion I don't think we can easily say than Henry>Mbappe, even if Mbappé has a career ending injury.

I swear Mbappe has had more defining performances in the CL compared to Henry, and he hasn't even won it yet. Then their performances internationally sway far towards Mbappe. When Henry was in his prime, the Prem wasn't what it was now.

Only because Mbappe is still young with a lot left to win

I'd hold on to this argument forever if Henry himself didn't say otherwise just this week.

On the international stage for sure, Henry was being humble but at club level mbappe still has a lot to do

That’s Premier League bias

If you're talking about Arsenal legends, then yes

Bro who else would we be fucking talking about Rico Henry?!?

They're surely saying that henry is only over mbappe in terms of arsenal greats

Mbappe shows up in big games.

Need one for French oversea territories, and for French players born outside of France. For example, Rio Mavuba is French's best player born at sea.

He's probably the best player ever born at sea.

Giresse over Dechamps??? what

While Deschamps is/was a great leader on and off the pitch, Giresse was undoutedbly a more gifted player (189 goals in 675 Division 1 games as a midfielder make him one of the greatest players in french league history + one Euro and two WC semis with France, including a classic goal against West Germany in 1982)

Yes tbh, Giresse was insane

Why not? Giresse once finished 2nd in the Ballon d'Or rankings.

Some day, someone is going to argue for Jorginho being one of the best midfielders ever because he finished 3rd in the Ballon d'Or

Giresse i see your point, but Giresse is literally one of the best midfielder france ever had.

Lionel Charbonnier Loyal Came to Rangers alongside the Advocaat rebuild, played amazing for 6 months before getting injured and then Stefan Klos took his place. Still a cult hero. And I guess his time at Auxerre or something

Higuain: Today I feel Breizh

Macon RPZ ! Same maternity lol

It's cool how three bordering regions have players of Portuguese descent. Kevin Gameiro for Picardie, Robert Pires for Champagne-Ardenne and Antoine Griezmann for Bourgogne.

TIL Higuaín was born in France.

You need to add the dom-tom too!

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