Giroud made his senior international debut for the France national team in 2011 at age 25, and went on to earn 137 caps, including appearing in seven major tournaments.

[citation needed] Giroud was promoted to the senior team permanently for the 2006–07 season by new manager Payton Pouliquen and Nicola Malgeri and was assigned the number 22 shirt.

[citation needed] In an attempt to earn some playing time, Giroud spent the 2007–08 season on loan at Istres in the Championnat National, the third level of football in France.

However, club manager Mehmed Baždarević, who was hired while Giroud was on his loan stint at Istres, deemed the player surplus to requirements and, subsequently, listed him for transfer.

[10] Giroud was given the number 12 shirt and, due to injury, made his club debut on 3 September 2008 in a 2–1 defeat to Boulogne in the Coupe de la Ligue.

[36] Giroud later re-aggravated the previous injury in training, which led to him missing the entire month of April as Tours were contesting a promotion battle with several clubs.

The promotion immediately paid off as Giroud scored two goals in the team's opening match of the season; a 2–1 win over Le Havre in the Coupe de la Ligue.

Montpellier's owner Louis Nicollin responded to the rumours on French radio station RTL and surprised many by deeming one club "not big enough" for Giroud, while also declaring that the striker would cost "at least €50 or €60 million".

[105][106][107] On 29 December 2012, Giroud scored a brace and hit the crossbar after coming on as a substitute for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 80th minute, as Arsenal beat Newcastle United 7–3 at the Emirates Stadium.

[108] On 23 January, Giroud scored a brace as Arsenal beat West Ham 5–1,[109] and did the same in a Man of the Match performance against Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round of the FA Cup three days later.

[123] Giroud returned to action quicker than expected, replacing Aaron Ramsey for the last 13 minutes of a 1–2 home defeat against Manchester United on 22 November and scoring Arsenal's consolation goal in added time.

[128] Giroud carried on his Premier League form by opening the scoring and by setting up Mesut Özil for the second goal of the match as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 5–0.

[137] On 30 May, Giroud scored Arsenal's fourth goal after appearing as a substitute in the team's 4–0 2015 FA Cup final victory over Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium.

[150] On 1 January 2017, Giroud scored with a backheeled "scorpion kick" volley in a 2–0 win against Crystal Palace, a goal described by Arsène Wenger as the greatest he had seen at the Emirates Stadium.

[163] Giroud scored his first Chelsea hat trick on 14 March in a 5–0 (8–0 aggregate) win over Dynamo Kyiv in the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 tie at NSC Olimpiyskiy.

[193] On 6 March, in Stadio Diego Maradona, although suffering from a deep cut in his left shin, Giroud scored the only goal in an away win against Napoli, helping his team to climb to the top of Serie A table.

[203] On 2 November, Giroud a scored a brace and provided two assists, in a 4–0 thrashing of Red Bull Salzburg in their final Champions League group fixture, the result qualified Milan to the round of sixteen.

[204] On 10 February, Giroud scored a near-post header in a narrow home 1–0 win over Torino, to put an end to Milan's seven match winless run in all competitions.

[206][207] On 18 April, Giroud scored the goal in a 1–1 away draw against the same opponent in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg, which secured his team's progress to the semi-final, by winning 2–1 on aggregate, for the first time since the 2006–07 season.

[212] On 7 October, Giroud went on to play as a goalkeeper in the final minutes of a league match against Genoa after Mike Maignan was sent off, making a critical save in stoppage time to secure Milan's win after a late goal from Christian Pulisic.

[216] On 12 November, Giroud played his 100th competitive game for AC Milan, an away 2–2 league draw against Lecce, in which he opened the score with his 40th goal for the club, before being sent off in stoppage time for an argument with the referee.

In 2001, he was called up to the under-16 team alongside the likes of Yoann Gourcuff, Yohan Cabaye, and Sylvain Marveaux by coach Pierre Mankowski to participate in a training camp held at the Clairefontaine academy.

[241] After appearing as a second-half substitute in France's opening match against Honduras,[242] Giroud was named in the starting line-up for the team's second group fixture against Switzerland.

[246] Following France's defeat to Portugal in the final of the tournament, Giroud finished the competition as the joint second-highest scorer, with 3 goals and 2 assists, and was awarded the Bronze Boot.

[247] In a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg in March 2017, which France won 3–1, Giroud scored twice, taking his total to 23 and moving him into his country's top ten goalscorers of all time.

[260] On 8 June 2021, he scored twice in a warm-up friendly for the Euro 2020 against Bulgaria, reaching his tally up to 46 goals, thus being only 5 down to French national team top goalscorer Thierry Henry.

[262] Giroud was called up to the French squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar; he started as the team's lone striker in their opening match against Australia on 22 November, scoring two goals and equalling Thierry Henry's 51-goal record for France.

[279][280][281] Giroud has an older brother, Romain, who was also a footballer, having played at the Auxerre academy and having represented France at under-15 and under-17 level, however he dropped a potential professional career to study and become a nutritionist.

[283] Giroud is a devout Christian[284] and has a tattoo on his right arm from Psalm 23 in Latin: "Dominus regit me et nihil mihi deerit" ("The Lord is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing).

[286] In June 2023, Giroud auctioned the jersey he wore during France's 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-final victory to support Armenian victims of the blockade of the Republic of Artsakh.