International Career
Lloris has been active on the international front with France first appearing with the under-18 team making his debut on 11 Match 2004 in a friendly match against Germany. He later played with the under-19 team and was part of the winning team at the 2005 European Under-19 Football Championship. Lloris appeared in all five matches the team played in the competition. He made only five appearances with the under-21 team, primarily because of his commitments to the senior team. On 11 October 2008, with the under-21 squad attempting to qualify for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, coach Erick Mombaerts called up Lloris to the team for their important two-legged playoff against Germany, despite Lloris having been called up to the senior team and the player having last played for the team in August 2007. Lloris honored the call up and started the second leg. With France seconds away from a spot in the tournament, because of the team's 1–1 draw in the first leg, Germany got a late goal from Benedikt Höwedes. The 1–0 loss eliminated France from the competition and also ended Lloris's under-21 career.
Lloris received his first call-up to the senior national team for France's 6 February 2008 match against Spain. However, he instead played for the B team in their friendly match against the Congo DR, held the day before the Spain friendly. After receiving several more call ups in 2008, he finally earned his first cap on 19 November 2008 in a 0–0 draw with Uruguay. On 9 September 2009, Lloris received his first international red card, against Serbia, following a foul on Nikola Žigić in the penalty box, despite replays showing otherwise. Lloris returned to the team on 14 October playing the entire 90 minutes in the team's 3–1 win over Austria.
Lloris was applauded by the media and players, alike, for his performance over two legs against the Republic of Ireland that saw France earn a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Former national team goalkeeper Grégory Coupet credited his performance as "phenomenal", while the French media branded him "Saint Lloris", which is a play on the nickname of Real Madrid counterpart Iker Casillas, who is considered one of the top goalkeepers in Europe at the moment.
On 11 May 2010, Lloris was named to Domenech's 30-man preliminary squad to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was later named to the 23-man team and installed as the first-choice goalkeeper to compete in the competition. On 11 June 2010, Lloris made his FIFA World Cup debut in the team's opening group stage match against Uruguay earning a clean sheet in a 0–0 stalemate. Lloris appeared in both of France's other group stage matches, which were against Mexico and the hosts South Africa. Against South Africa, Lloris committed a goalkeeping error, which resulted in the opening goal for the hosts. However, he redeemed himself later in the match by producing several saves to limit the South Africans' chances of progressing to the knockout rounds. France lost the match 2–1, which resulted in the team's elimination from the competition.
On 17 November 2010, Lloris captained France, for the first time, in the team's 2–1 victory over England at Wembley Stadium. After leading France out six more times on an interim basis, on 28 February 2012, he was named first-choice captain of the national team by manager Laurent Blanc ahead of UEFA Euro 2012.
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