Early career Lloris started playing football at the age of six at CEDAC (Centre de Diffusion et d'Action Culturelle), a local
cultural center based in the neighborhood of
Cimiez, Nice. The centre offered a variety of activities, which included football. Lloris played a variety of positions at the centre, such as
in the attack, before switching to the goalkeeper position after coaches noticed that he possessed impressive goalkeeping qualities, such as ball-handling and catching skills.
Nice in 2005 After success with the club's under-18 team, Lloris was promoted to the club's reserve team in the
Championnat de France Amateur, the fourth level of French football, for the 2004–05 season. He alternated the starting goalkeeper spot with Hilaire Munoz as he appeared in 12 matches. Lloris was promoted to the first team squad ahead of the
2005–06 season and assigned the number 1 shirt. He was designated by manager
Frédéric Antonetti as the team's starting goalkeeper for the club's
Coupe de la Ligue campaign ahead of fan-favourite (and fellow Nice native)
Damien Gregorini, who was relied more upon in league play. Lloris made his professional debut on 25 October 2005, at the age of 18, recording a clean sheet in Nice's 2–0 Coupe de la Ligue win over
Châteauroux. He recorded another clean sheet the following round against
Sedan and helped Nice upset favorites
Bordeaux and
Derby de la Côte d'Azur rivals
Monaco in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively, meaning the club had reached its first-ever Coupe de la Ligue final. In
the final, Lloris played the entire match in the club's 2–1 defeat against
Nancy. Lloris made his league debut on 18 March 2006 against Nancy picking up a
clean sheet in a 1–0 victory. He made four more league appearances that season. The
following season, Lloris was given the starting job permanently ahead of Gregorini, who subsequently departed the club for Nancy. Lloris appeared in all but one league match recording 13 clean sheets as Nice finished in 16th place. Despite the disappointing finish, the club was the fifth-best defensive team in the league with Lloris conceding only 36 goals. Only veterans
Grégory Coupet,
Cédric Carrasso and
Ulrich Ramé conceded fewer. For the early part of the
2007–08 season, Lloris endured a recurring ligament injury in his left knee, which forced him to miss three weeks in September. He returned to the team on 6 October 2007 in a league match against
Le Mans, but was substituted out after 71 minutes after the injury relapsed. Lloris missed a further six weeks before returning on 24 November in the team's 2–1 victory over
Paris Saint-Germain. He appeared consistently with the team for the rest of the season as Nice finished in eighth place, the club's best finish in the league since finishing sixth in the
1988–89 season. Lloris conceded only 24 goals in his 30 appearances recording 13 clean sheets. He contributed to a defense that only conceded 30 overall during the season, tied for the league-best. Lloris' efforts that season led to him being approached by several big European clubs with hopes of signing him for the future.
Lyon 2008–09 season After another solid season with Nice, speculation arose as to where Lloris would play the following season. He was primarily linked to French club
Lyon, who wanted him to replace the departing Grégory Coupet,
Milan, who wanted him to replace the Brazilian
Dida, and
Tottenham Hotspur, who wanted Lloris to replace
Paul Robinson. After reportedly coming to personal terms with Milan, Lloris snubbed the Italian club for seven-time
Ligue 1 champions Lyon. Milan vice president
Adriano Galliani later declared that an agreement had been all but reached stating that Lloris was "practically ours", but the deal reached a stumbling block when Milan goalkeeper
Christian Abbiati refused a move to
Palermo. Lloris explained his decision citing Lyon's
European ambitions, more playing time at Lyon, and in Milan, he was not guaranteed the starting goalkeeper spot. The transfer fee was initially undisclosed, but was later discovered to be priced at €8.5 million. He was promptly handed the number 1 shirt and also the starting goalkeeper position. Lloris made his club debut in the team's opening league match of the
2008–09 season on 10 August 2008 against
Toulouse. Lyon won the match 3–0 win giving the goalkeeper his first career clean sheet with the club. In the following three matches, Lloris earned clean sheets against
Lorient and regional rivals
Grenoble and
Saint-Étienne. Despite Lyon losing out on the title for the first time in seven years, he finished the campaign conceding only 27 goals in the league and recording 16 clean sheets; both of which were second-best to only Cédric Carrasso. Lloris was, subsequently, named the league's
top goalkeeper and also named to the
Team of the Year.
2009–10 season In the
2009–10 season, Lloris remained the club's first-choice goalkeeper and opened the new campaign by recording four clean sheets in the club's first eight matches. For his performances in the month of September, he was awarded the
UNFP Player of the Month becoming the first goalkeeper since
Steve Mandanda in August 2008 to receive the award. Lloris earned media praise for his performances against
Liverpool in the
UEFA Champions League. In the first match, played at
Anfield, Lloris made four saves holding Liverpool to only one goal. Lyon won the match 2–1. In the second match at the
Stade de Gerland, he produced stops from shots by
Fernando Torres,
Dirk Kuyt and
Andriy Voronin in the first half, then displayed reflexes to deny the Brazilian
Lucas midway through the second period. Though Lyon conceded late, the team drew the match 1–1 with a goal from
Lisandro López in
stoppage time. On 8 November 2009, Lloris, alongside Marseille and France's number two goalkeeper
Steve Mandanda, each conceded five goals in a
5–5 draw between Lyon and Marseille, though most of the goals conceded were attributed to "slack defending" displayed by both clubs as described by the media and both managers. On 20 December, Lloris finished third behind
Nicolas Anelka and
Yoann Gourcuff in voting for the
France Football 2009
French Player of the Year award. Lloris remained consistent during the 2010 portion of the season conceding only two goals in the club's first four matches of the year with Lyon winning all of them and Lloris picking up two clean sheets. On 16 February, Lloris earned a clean sheet in Lyon's first leg of its
UEFA Champions League knockout round match against
Real Madrid. Lloris made two saves in the team's 1–0 victory making a finger-tipping save from a deflected
Cristiano Ronaldo shot in the 61st minute and producing a reflex save on a shot from
Gonzalo Higuaín three minutes later to keep Lyon ahead on the scoreline. Lyon later achieved qualification to the quarter-finals in the competition after drawing 1–1 in
Madrid with Lloris conceding the opening goal to Cristiano Ronaldo in the sixth minute. It was the goalkeeper's first goal conceded in over 620 minutes. On 2 May, Lloris provided the assist on the game-winning goal scored by
Michel Bastos in Lyon's 1–0 win over
Montpellier. A week later, he was named, for the second consecutive season, the UNFP Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year.
2010–2012 Ahead of the
2010–11 season, Lloris was nominated for the UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year award at the
UEFA Club Football Awards, but lost out on the award to
Champions League-winning keeper
Júlio César of
Internazionale. In the season, Lloris performed well, despite conceding a career-high 40 goals in the league as Lyon failed to win the league for the third consecutive season. The frustrating season for the club and Lloris himself reached its nadir on 3 April 2011 following the club's 2–2 away draw with Lloris' former club Nice. Despite being up 2–0 heading into stoppage time, Lyon conceded two goals within two minutes of each other, an
Éric Mouloungui penalty and a goal at the death from
Renato Civelli, allowing Nice to leave the match with a draw. Following the conclusion of the match, a disappointed Lloris, who had previously saved a penalty shot in the match, delivered a surprising profanity-laced declaration in the team's locker room, in which he questioned the team's overall performance. Following the team's 3–0 win over
Lens the following week, in which Lloris earned his first clean sheet in over a month, the goalkeeper reflected on his comments after the Nice match, stating: "It was a human reaction. There was frustration and accumulation and it had to come out. It was intolerable to draw 2–2 when leading 2–0." In the
2011–12 Champions League, Lyon finished second in their group to qualify to the round of 16, before they were eliminated by
APOEL on penalties. In the
Coupe de France, Lyon managed to win the title after a 1–0 win over
Quevilly in the
final. Despite Lyon finishing fourth in
Ligue 1, Lloris was voted best goalkeeper in the championship for the third time in his career.
Tottenham Hotspur 2012–2015: First seasons in London in 2014 Lloris signed for
Tottenham Hotspur on 31 August 2012 for €10 million and €5 million variable. Lyon also receives 20% of Lloris's future transfer profit. He made his debut for Spurs in a
UEFA Europa League match against
Lazio on 20 September 2012, the result of the match was 0–0. Lloris started his first
Premier League game against
Aston Villa on 7 October 2012, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 home victory. His appearance ended fellow Tottenham goalkeeper
Brad Friedel's run of 310 consecutive games in the Premier League. After conceding only four goals in six games, he was nominated for the
Premier League Player of the Month for December 2012, but lost out to Manchester United's
Robin van Persie. Lloris ended the 2012–13 season with 27 appearances and 9 clean sheets. Following speculation linking him with a move to Monaco, Lloris insisted he had left Lyon to play abroad. On 3 November 2013, in a match against
Everton, Lloris lost consciousness in a collision with
Romelu Lukaku's knee, but remained in the game after manager
André Villas-Boas determined he "showed great character and personality". The decision was heavily criticised by head injury charities,
FIFA and the players' union,
FIFPro. He said that
Mauricio Pochettino, the new manager at Tottenham, had convinced him to sign the new contract with his "rigour and vision" that gave the club "new benchmarks". In a
2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage match on 23 October 2014, Tottenham were leading
Asteras Tripoli 5–0 with four minutes to play when Lloris was sent off for a professional foul on
Tasos Tsokanis. As the team had used all three substitutes, forward
Harry Kane was forced into goal and conceded a goal from a freekick in the 89th minute; Tottenham won the match 5–1. Tottenham progressed through the League Cup to face Chelsea in the final at Wembley. Lloris was named in the starting eleven in the hopes of getting silverware but Tottenham lost 2–0.
2016–2019: Captaincy and Champions League runner-up In August 2015, Tottenham manager
Mauricio Pochettino named Lloris permanent
captain of the team, replacing the outgoing
Younès Kaboul. In a
2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage match (which ended in a 0–0 draw) against
Bayer Leverkusen on 18 October 2016, Lloris made a string of fine saves, including a spectacular one-handed stop on the goal-line to deny
Javier Hernández; Tottenham's manager
Mauricio Pochettino described Lloris's performance in the second half as "brilliant". On 22 November 2016, Lloris saved
Radamel Falcao's 11th-minute penalty and pulled off multiple world-class saves, including incredibly tipping
Kamil Glik's powerful volley from five metres out over the bar in the 68th minute, in their 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage match away at Monaco; however Tottenham lost the match 1–2 and were eliminated from the competition. In December 2016, Lloris signed a contract extension to remain at Tottenham until 2022. In the
2016–17 season, Lloris helped Tottenham achieve the best defensive record in the club's history, conceding only 26 goals in the Premier League that season (only 9 of which were conceded in home league games), 6 better than the previous record of 32 conceded that was set in the
1908–09 season in the
Second Division. He kept 15 clean sheets this season, but missed out on the
Golden Glove award when a goal was conceded in the last game of the season, a record-breaking 7–1 away league win at
Hull City. On 17 April 2018, Lloris made his 250th appearance for Tottenham in a 1–1 draw with
Brighton. In doing so, he became only the 61st player, and sixth goalkeeper to achieve the milestone for the club. In the
Champions League group round match against
PSV on 24 October 2018, Lloris was sent off after a challenge late in the game that ended in a 2–2 draw. On 2 March 2019, Lloris saved a late penalty in the
North London derby, and kept the score at 1–1. A few days later on 5 March 2019, in the Champions League last-16 away tie against
Borussia Dortmund, Lloris made a number of crucial saves to kept a clean sheet, which ensured a 4–0 win on aggregate and progress to the club's second quarterfinal in the Champions League. This is his 100th clean sheet with the club. He also kept a clean sheet in the home leg of the quarter-final against Manchester City, saving a penalty in a 1–0 win that helped keep Tottenham in the competition. The previous week in the Premier League match against Liverpool, he made a goalkeeping error which let in a late goal and lost 2–1.
2019–2022: 300th and 400th appearance in 2020 In the
2019–20 season, Lloris made his 300th appearance for the club in the second league match of the season against
Manchester City, a match that finished 2–2. On 5 October, Lloris was carried off on a stretcher after suffering a dislocated elbow against Brighton, a match which ended in 3–0 defeat for Spurs. Ligament damage sustained in the injury would rule him out the team for a few months. In November 2019, he underwent surgery for the dislocation. He returned from injury in January 2020 in the home game against
Norwich City. On 29 November 2020, he played his 100th European match in a 1–0 defeat against
Royal Antwerp in the
Europa League, becoming the first French goalkeeper to achieve this feat. On 28 February 2021, he had his 100th Premier League clean sheet in a 4–0 win over
Burnley. On 22 August 2021, he played his 300th Premier League match in a 1–0 away win over
Wolverhampton Wanderers. In January 2022, he extended his contract with Tottenham Hotspur until 2024. On 19 February 2022, he made his 400th appearance for his club in all competitions in a 3–2 away win over Manchester City. On 15 May 2022, he equaled his record of 15 clean sheets per season in a 1–0 win over Burnley, before breaking the record to reach his personal best of 16 clean sheets in a 5–0 away win over Norwich City in the last match of the season.
2023: Limited playing opportunities On 23 April 2023, Lloris was substituted off at half-time in a 6–1 defeat to
Newcastle United. This would be his last appearance for the club. In July 2023, Tottenham announced that Lloris was left out of the club pre-season tour, with a statement reading that he could "explore prospective transfer opportunities". On 12 August, it was announced that
Son Heung-min had replaced Lloris as club captain. Lloris remained at the club and continued training with the squad despite failing to be included in match-day squads by new manager
Ange Postecoglou.
Los Angeles FC On 30 December 2023, it was announced that Lloris had signed a contract for
Major League Soccer club
Los Angeles FC for the 2024 season, with options to extend in the following two years. ==International career==