Franck Bilal Ribéry (born 7 April 1983) is a French football player who currently plays for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. Ribéry primarily plays as a winger, preferably on the left side, and is known for “pace, energy, skill and precise passing.”
Ribéry began his career in 1999 as a youth player for hometown club US Boulogne, where he played for two years. After spending two more years in the amateur divisions with two different clubs, in 2004, he earned a move to Ligue 1 club FC Metz. After six months with the club, Ribéry moved to Turkey in January 2005 joining Galatasaray and, after six months there, departed the club in controversial fashion to join Marseille in France. In 2007, Ribéry joined German club Bayern Munich for a then club-record fee of €25 million. Since joining Bayern, Ribéry has been recognised on the world stage as one of the best French players of his generation. The previous talisman of Les Bleus, Zinedine Zidane, has called Ribéry the “jewel of French football”.
Ribéry is a French international having represented his nation at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. At the 2006 World Cup, he scored his first international goal against Spain and played in the final match against Italy. Ribéry is a two-time winner of the French Player of the Year award and has also been named to the UEFA Team of the Year once.
Prior to representing the senior team, Ribéry was ever present with the France under-21 team earning his first selection on 3 September 2004 in a 1–0 victory over Israel in qualifying for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.[76] Ribéry scored his first under-21 goal five days later in a 1–0 friendly win over Slovakia.[77] On 15 November 2005, he scored an important goal against England during the qualification playoffs as France defeated them 3–2 on aggregate to advance to the finals.[78] Ribéry, however, missed the competition after earning selection to coach Raymond Domenech’s pre-World Cup squad. In total with the under-21s, Ribéry made 13 appearances scoring two goals.[79]
Ribéry earned his first cap with the senior team in a 1–0 victory over Mexico on 27 May 2006 appearing as a substitute in the 74th minute for striker David Trézéguet.[80] His solid performances in the friendly matches ahead of the 2006 FIFA World Cup led to his inclusion in the team for the competition. Ribéry appeared in all seven matches France contested starting six. On 27 June, he scored France’s opening goal in the team’s 3–1 Round of 16 win over Spain after receiving a through ball from Patrick Vieira, which allowed the winger to dribble past an oncoming Iker Casillas and shoot into the empty net. He later played in the final where France lost to Italy on penalties. Ribéry’s only shot on goal came in extra time and he was later replaced by Trézéguet.
Following the retirement of Zinedine Zidane, it was expected that Ribéry would succeed him and become the national team’s talisman. He went scoreless for almost a year and a half before converting a penalty shot against England on 26 March 2008 at the Stade de France. Following the goal, Ribéry paid tribute to legendary French commentator Thierry Gilardi who had passed away three days earlier. At Euro 2008, France performed under expectations with Ribéry appearing in all three group stage matches as France suffered early elimination. On 17 June 2008, in the team’s final group stage match against Italy, Ribéry ruptured a ligament in his left ankle in just the 8th minute of play. Ribéry returned to the team on 11 October 2008 in a FIFA World Cup qualification match against Romania and scored the team’s opening goal in a 2–2 draw. On 28 March 2009, he scored the lone goal away to Lithuania. Three days later, he completed this feat again, this time at the Stade de France, netting the winner in the 75th minute following service from André-Pierre Gignac.
