Lorient Gignac made his professional debut with Lorient on 13 August 2004, coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute with the score tied 1–1 against
Châteauroux. Within seconds of coming on, he scored the winning goal to bring Lorient a 2–1 victory. An elated Gignac later said after scoring the match-winning goal that he "thought he was
Ronaldo". In subsequent matches, Gignac was minor presence within the team featuring primarily as a substitute. Gignac scored his only other goal in the season against
Reims in a 4–1 victory on 29 October. The following week he made his first professional start, in a 2–1 defeat to
Le Mans, playing 70 minutes.
Pau The
following season, Lorient achieved promotion to
Ligue 1, though without Gignac's services as he was loaned out to
Championnat National club
Pau during the winter transfer period. Prior to the loan, Gignac had appeared in only one match for the club in the season. At Pau, Gignac featured as a starter for the first time in his career. He appeared in 20 league matches for the club and scored eight goals. Notable appearances with the team included a double in a victory over
Toulon and a
hat-trick against
Châtellerault. The week before the match against Châtellerault, Gignac scored the equalizing goal against
Romorantin in a 1–1 draw.
Back to Lorient Gignac's newfound confidence saw the player return to Lorient senior team for the
2006–07 Ligue 1 season where he was inserted as starter. Initially, he began the season as a substitute, appearing as a replacement in the first three league matches. In the team's fourth league match against
Derby Breton rivals
Nantes, Gignac started the match and repaid manager Gourcuff by converting a hat-trick in 27 minutes in a 3–1 victory. On 4 November 2006, he scored the match-winning goal away to
Marseille and, in December, scored goals in back-to-back matches against
Sedan and
Auxerre. Gignac finished the campaign with 37 appearances in the league and nine goals, a club best.
Toulouse 2007–08 season in 2008 On 25 June 2007, it was announced Gignac had signed a four-year deal with
Toulouse. However, it was revealed soon after that Lorient had accepted a €4.5 million bid from
Lille and that the player had already agreed to a pre-contract with the Northern side, putting his move to Toulouse in jeopardy. Despite this, Toulouse trumped Lille's offer by offering the player more than double the salary he had been offered by Lille. Despite the hype, both Gignac and Toulouse had disappointing
2007–08 seasons, with Gignac appearing in 28 matches and scoring only two goals. Toulouse finished the season in 17th place, just one place above the relegation zone. Some media outlets attributed Gignac's struggle for form to him playing second fiddle to Johan Elmander. Gignac also struggled with weight problems during the season.
2008–09 season In the
2008–09 season, Gignac's form blossomed as he became first-choice striker following the departure of Johan Elmander to
Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal of the season in Toulouse's second match, against
Le Havre, with an 88th-minute strike to seal a 2–1 victory. Over the course of the season, Gignac scored several vital goals for his club, notably braces against
Sochaux,
Grenoble,
Saint-Étienne, Marseille and twice against
Nice, including his final two goals of the season. He overtook Johan Elmander (Toulouse's top scorer the season prior with 11 goals) during the 19th league match. In the events leading up to the 31st matchday, he was challenged by his coach
Alain Casanova to score a goal with his left foot (weak foot). The coach promised to kiss his left foot in front of everyone if he scored with his left foot against Nantes in that match. Gignac practiced shooting with his left foot the entire week and in the match, he scored the only goal of the night with his left foot. For his efforts, he was awarded the
UNFP Player of the Month award twice for September and March, nominated for the Ligue 1
Player of the Year Award (which was won by
Yoann Gourcuff), selected to the Ligue 1 Team of the Year and received the league's top scorer award with 24 goals to his name.
2009–10 season Gignac switched to the number 10 shirt for the
2009–10 season and, on 14 August 2009, signed a one-year contract extension tying him to Toulouse until 2013. The extension signaled an end to rumours of a move during the fall transfer window, where the player had been linked with moves to fellow Ligue 1 club
Lyon, English
Premier League clubs
Arsenal and
Manchester United and Italian
Serie A clubs
Juventus and
AC Milan. Gignac scored his first goal of the season on 15 August 2009 in a 3–1 victory over Saint-Étienne. Five days later, he scored a brace in the first leg of the club's playoff round match against Turkish club
Trabzonspor. The 3–1 result in the first leg was enough for Toulouse to reach the group stage of the competition where Gignac struck again, this time against Belgian side
Club Brugge in a 2–2 draw. After going scoreless for seven weeks in the league, on 24 October, Gignac scored the second goal in the club's 2–0 away win over
Lens. Two weeks later, Gignac scored the
game-winning goal against
Rennes. Two months later, he scored both goals in another 2–0 victory, this time against Sochaux. On 16 January 2010, Gignac provided the assists on all three goals scored by the club in its 3–1 win over
Valenciennes. Despite being injured for the majority of the spring campaign, Gignac finished the season as the club's top scorer. Gignac totalled 34 Ligue 1 goals for Toulouse, remaining their highest scorer in the league in the 21st century until September 2014, when his record was surpassed by
Wissam Ben Yedder.
Marseille 2010–11 season On 20 August 2010, prior to the start of the press conference for new signing
Loïc Rémy, Marseille club president
Jean-Claude Dassier confirmed the club had reached a tentative agreement with Toulouse for the transfer of Gignac. Gignac underwent a medical the following day and signed a five-year contract. The transfer fee was undisclosed but was reported to be within the region of €16–18 million. Gignac was assigned the number 10 shirt and made his club debut nine days after signing in a league match against
Bordeaux. He scored his first goal for the club two months later in a 1–1 draw with Saint-Étienne. On 3 November, Gignac scored
a hat-trick in the 7–0 away win against Slovak club
MŠK Žilina in a UEFA Champions League group stage match. Gignac endured a rough patch for the majority of the season, which led to criticism from local media, club supporters and former club players, most notably
Jean-Pierre Papin, who said Gignac's game had "become too predictable". Gignac admitted the criticism was justified and stated that "you will see the real Gignac in 2011". Following the winter break, Gignac attempted to live up to his declaration by scoring in the team's first league match in a 2–1 win over Bordeaux. Three days later, he scored the second goal in a 2–0 victory over Auxerre in the
Coupe de la Ligue. The win sent Marseille to the competition's final match. On 5 February, he scored a goal in a win over
Arles-Avignon and, in the following week, scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over Sochaux. He played the full 90 minutes in the
2011 Coupe de la Ligue final on 23 April, a 1–0 win over
Montpellier.
2011–12 season Gignac was not named in the Marseille squad for the
2011 Trophée des Champions on 27 July, which they won 5–4 against Lille at the
Stade de Tanger in Morocco. He was close to a move to English Premier League club
Fulham during the transfer window, but this collapsed at the last moment as Marseille failed to bring in
Amauri as a replacement. He was also offered as part of a failed bid for
Sunderland's
Asamoah Gyan. Gignac expressed frustration at the move to Fulham being called off. On 26 November 2011, Gignac was relegated to Marseille's reserve squad. He made only six league starts during
the season, and his only goal came in the penultimate match against Sochaux, when he came on in the 50th minute for Rémy and concluded a 3–0 home victory. He was an unused substitute on 14 April as Marseille won the
2012 Coupe de la Ligue final against Lyon.
2012–13 season in 2013 Despite Marseille finishing tenth in the league, their Coupe de la Ligue win earned them entry into the
UEFA Europa League. In the
third qualifying round, Gignac scored in each leg of a 4–1 aggregate victory over Turkish club
Eskişehirspor. Gignac regained his position on the first team and scored in Marseille's first home match of the season, a first in a 2–0 win over Sochaux. He then scored the only goal of an away victory over reigning league champions Montpellier. Gignac scored two first-half goals against
Paris Saint-Germain in
Le Classique on 7 October, to secure a draw for the home side and to retain the league lead. On 6 January 2013, he scored twice, including the extra-time winner, as Marseille won 2–1 against
Guingamp in the
last 64 of the Coupe de France. Gignac's 13 goals eventually helped Marseille to second place, behind PSG.
2013–14 season Gignac scored in each of Marseille's three opening matches of
the league season, all victories, with the third being the 84th-minute only goal of an away win at Valenciennes on 24 August. In January 2014, he scored braces in consecutive rounds of the Coupe de France: an extra-time double to dispatch Reims in the round of 64 on 5 January, and a further two in a 4–5 home defeat to Nice 16 days later. On 4 May, he scored twice in a 4–2 win over Lyon, finishing the season with 16 league goals, joint-second with four other players behind PSG's
Zlatan Ibrahimović.
2014–15 season Gignac began the season with two goals in a 3–3 draw at
Bastia on 9 August 2014, the first being the first goal under new manager
Marcelo Bielsa, and the latter a penalty. On 20 September, he scored Marseille's first two goals as they defeated Rennes 3−0 and moved to the top of the Ligue 1 standings. Three days later, he scored another double in a 5–0 thrashing away to Stade de Reims. On 4 January 2015, in the
round of 64 of the Coupe de France away to fourth-tier
Grenoble, Gignac scored twice in the first half in an eventual 3–3 draw which ended in his team losing on penalties. He scored a further two on 5 April as Marseille hosted rivals PSG, twice putting his team ahead in an eventual 2–3 loss. The
2014–15 season saw Gignac get his best goal return for Marseille, scoring 23 times in all competitions and 21 in Ligue 1 play as he finished runner-up to Lyon's
Alexandre Lacazette for the league's golden boot.
UANL On 18 June 2015, Gignac signed with Mexican club
UANL, ending rumours of alleged interest from several European teams. Upon signing, he said his ambition to join the club was to win the domestic league and help his side reach the final of
Copa Libertadores. Gignac made his official debut with Tigres on 15 July in the away game of semi-finals of the
2015 Copa Libertadores against Brazilian side
Internacional at the
Estádio Beira-Rio, a 2–1 defeat. In the second leg, he scored his first goal to open a 3–1 victory, taking his team into the
finals against
River Plate of Argentina. After losing the 2015 Copa Libertadores finals, Gignac debuted in the
Apertura 2015 season of
Liga MX on 9 August, scoring in a 2–2 draw against
Guadalajara at the
Estadio Universitario. Six days later, he recorded a hat-trick in a 4–1 home win over
Chiapas for the first win of the season for the
Nuevo León-based team. He made his debut in the
Clásico Regiomontano by scoring the second goal of the 3–1 home victory over arch-rival
Monterrey on 19 September. Gignac's 11 goals contributed to the team reaching the
championship stage, in which he scored in each leg of a 3–1 aggregate win over Chiapas in the quarter-finals. He repeated the feat in the 4–4 draw against
Pumas in the
final, also converting his attempt as they won in a
penalty shootout. The following 30 January, Gignac scored his second hat-trick for Tigres, as they won 3–1 at home against
León in the Clausura 2016 season. He scored against
Querétaro for his 5th consecutive match of the season, in a 2–2 draw. Gignac scored 13 goals in regular season and finished as the top goal scorer of the Clausura 2016. in 2016 On 2 March 2016, Gignac scored a late goal against
Real Salt Lake in a 1–1 away draw, for a 3–1 aggregate win in the quarter-finals of the
2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League. On 5 April, he scored twice in the final six minutes of a 2–0 home win over Querétaro (same score aggregate) to advance his team to the final, where on 27 April in the second leg of the finals against
América at the
Estadio Azteca, he scored the goal of the 2–1 defeat (losing the aggregate by 4–1). Gignac scored a hat-trick in quarter-finals of the
Apertura 2016 season playoffs against Pumas. He scored one goal in each, first and second leg of semi-finals against León. In the first leg of the finals against América he scored the goal of the 1–1 draw, also converting his attempt as they won in a
penalty shootout in the second leg. In the last match of the Clausura 2017 season, he scored a hat-trick in the 5–1 victory over Querétaro that meant that Tigres had qualified for the play-offs. In quarter-finals, Tigres faced city rival: Monterrey. Gignac had only scored one goal in six previous derbies. Tigres won 4–1 in the first leg and 2–0 in the second leg, with Gignac scoring twice in both matches. In the home leg of the finals against Guadalajara, Gignac scored twice to level the score at 2–2. On 15 July 2018, Gignac scored in Tigres' 4–0
Campeón de Campeones victory over
Santos Laguna, tying
Walter Gaitán's record of 80 goals with the club and becoming the club's joint-second highest scorer. A week later, Gignac scored in the 2–0 league win over León, surpassing Gaitán with 81 goals to become the lone second-highest goalscorer in club history. On 4 August 2019, Gignac scored in Tigres' 1–0 victory over
Pumas, becoming the club's all-time top scorer in all competitions. His goal against Pumas took his tally in Tigres to 105 goals, surpassing the club's previous recordholder,
Tomás Boy. On 1 March 2020, he scored a bicycle kick in a 3–0 win against Pumas in
Liga MX Clausura 2020. This goal was nominated for the
FIFA Puskás Award 2020. On 22 December 2020, Gignac scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win over
Los Angeles FC in the
2020 CONCACAF Champions League final. On 4 February 2021, Gignac scored a brace in a 2–1 win against
Ulsan Hyundai in the second round of the
2020 FIFA Club World Cup. On 7 February, he scored a penalty in a 1–0 win over
Palmeiras in the semi-finals, to help his team to become the first Mexican and
CONCACAF club to reach the final of the competition. On 26 February 2021, Gignac extended his contract with Tigres, signing a three-year contract until 2024. He later signed a new contract until 2026. ==International career==