Florent Johan Malouda (born 13 June 1980) is a football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder. Born in French Guiana, he represented both France and French Guiana at international level.
A left winger, he spent most of his career at Lyon and Chelsea, winning four consecutive Ligue 1 titles with the former and the UEFA Champions League in 2012 with the latter, among other honours.
A France international from 2004 to 2012, Malouda represented Les Bleus on 80 occasions, including in two FIFA World Cups and two European Championships. He was part of the French team which reached the 2006 World Cup final. In 2017, he played for his home region French Guiana.
Malouda made his debut for France on 17 November 2004 in a match against Poland. He then became a squad regular, scoring his first goal for his country on 31 May 2005 against Hungary.
After playing almost throughout France's qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Malouda earned a call up to the final squad. Malouda continued to play regularly in the tournament, where the French eventually lost on penalties to Italy in the final. He won a penalty for France in that game, which was converted by Zinedine Zidane.
On 22 June 2010, during the 2010 World Cup, Malouda scored a goal during the match against host nation South Africa, which ended in a 2–1 defeat in favour of South Africa. It was the only goal scored by France during their campaign in the group stage before they were eliminated in last place, having drawn 0–0 with Uruguay and lost 2–0 to Mexico.
On 3 September 2010, Malouda was handed the captain's armband in France's first UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier against Belarus, while a five-game suspension was being served by the previous captain, Patrice Evra. It was new coach Laurent Blanc's first game in charge and Les Bleus slumped to a disappointing 1–0 defeat.
On international duty in February 2012, Malouda netted his side's second goal of a 2–1 defeat of Germany, latching on to a cross from fellow substitute Morgan Amalfitano. After being included in France's 23-man squad for the Euro 2012 final stages in Poland and Ukraine, Malouda scored his ninth international goal in a 2–0 friendly defeat of Serbia on 31 May, netting from the edge of the area to double their advantage.
Malouda became available to play for his home nation, a non-FIFA association, after a five-year absence from the French squad. In June 2017, he was named to the preliminary French Guiana squad for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup and made his debut against Barbados in a friendly. He was, however, ruled ineligible for the Gold Cup since CONCACAF rules for the tournament use FIFA eligibility guidelines and Malouda remains cap-tied to France. Despite this, on 11 July 2017, Malouda was selected to start French Guiana's Gold Cup match against Honduras, resulting in a forfeit after what was originally a 0–0 draw.
Malouda later became a coach at Swiss club FC Zurich, but his contract was cancelled in April 2019 after less than 2 months.
Malouda has six children with his wife Florencia. His son Aaron Malouda is a professional footballer with Lille OSC.
1996-2000 |
2000-2003 |
2003-2007 |
2004-2012 |
2007-2013 |
2013-2014 |
2014-2015 |
2015-2017 |
2017 |
2018 |
| Chelsea | Appearances | English Premier League | 2010-2011 | 38 |
| Chelsea | Assists | English Premier League | 2010-2011 | 4 |
| Chelsea | Goals | English Premier League | 2010-2011 | 13 |
| |