Franck Bilal Ribéry (born 7 April 1983) is a French football
midfielderIn association football, a midfielder is a player whose position of play is midway between the attacking strikers and the defenders. Their main functions are to dispossess the opposing team, to retain possession of the ball, and to feed it to the strikers, and perhaps, to score as well...
who plays for
BundesligaThe Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other sports in the two countries....
club
Bayern MunichFC Bayern Munich is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful club in German football, having won 21 German titles and 14 cups....
. Ribéry had previously represented a number of French clubs, including
MarseilleOlympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (also known as l'OM, is a professional French football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, they play in Ligue 1 and have spent most of their history in the top tier of French football...
, as well as briefly playing for
GalatasarayGalatasaray Spor Kulübü , is a Turkish sports club based in Istanbul, most notable for its football section, also known as Galatasaray S.K....
in Turkey. He is known for "pace, energy, skill and precise passing." Since joining Bayern, Ribéry has been recognised on the world stage as one of the best French players of his generation.
Franck Bilal Ribéry (born 7 April 1983) is a French football
midfielderIn association football, a midfielder is a player whose position of play is midway between the attacking strikers and the defenders. Their main functions are to dispossess the opposing team, to retain possession of the ball, and to feed it to the strikers, and perhaps, to score as well...
who plays for
BundesligaThe Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other sports in the two countries....
club
Bayern MunichFC Bayern Munich is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful club in German football, having won 21 German titles and 14 cups....
. Ribéry had previously represented a number of French clubs, including
MarseilleOlympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (also known as l'OM, is a professional French football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, they play in Ligue 1 and have spent most of their history in the top tier of French football...
, as well as briefly playing for
GalatasarayGalatasaray Spor Kulübü , is a Turkish sports club based in Istanbul, most notable for its football section, also known as Galatasaray S.K....
in Turkey. He is known for "pace, energy, skill and precise passing." 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 ZidaneZinedine Yazid Zidane is a retired French professional footballer. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Zidane played for club teams in France, Italy and Spain, and was a member of the French national team...
, has called Ribéry the "ugliest footballer alive."
Club career
Ribéry was born in
Boulogne-sur-MerBoulogne-sur-Mer is a city in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city was 44,859 in the 1999 census, whereas that of the whole metropolitan area was 135,116.-Name:...
. After spending the first four years of his career in his home country with four different clubs, Ribéry relocated to
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
in January 2005, brought in by
Gheorghe HagiGheorghe Hagi , is a Romanian former football player of Aromanian origin. He was famous for his passing, close control, long shots and was regarded as one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s.Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he is considered a hero in...
, signing a three-and-a-half year contract with Galatasaray, with whom he won the 2005 Türkiye Kupası by scoring one goal and assisting one other in a 5-1 win in the final against league rivals
FenerbahçeFenerbahçe Spor Kulübü , commonly known as Fenerbahçe , is a professional sports club based in the district of Kadıköy in Istanbul, Turkey. The name of the sports club and its sea side district derive their names from a lighthouse located in Fenerbahçe district of Kadikoy...
.
On 25 April 2007, an appeal by Galatasaray against Ribéry's move to
MarseilleOlympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (also known as l'OM, is a professional French football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, they play in Ligue 1 and have spent most of their history in the top tier of French football...
was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), who ruled in a statement that Ribéry had terminated his contract with the Turkish club at the end of the 2004–05 season on just grounds, and that Galatasaray was therefore not entitled to any compensation. Ribéry had opted out of his deal in May 2005 in order to return to France after having gone over four months without wages. Galatasaray had sought
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
10 million in compensation from Marseille, and appealed to CAS after
FIFAThe International Federation of Association Football, commonly known by its French acronym, FIFA , is the international governing body of association football. Its headquarters are in Zürich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter...
ruled in Ribéry's favor in July 2005.
Ribéry made 68 appearances in all competitions and scored fourteen goals as Marseille finished runner-up to
LyonOlympique Lyonnais is a French football club based in Lyon. They play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1....
in the 2006–07
Ligue 1Ligue 1 is the top division of French football, one of two divisions making up the LFP, the other being Ligue 2. One member club, AS Monaco, is based in the independent Principality of Monaco, rather than in France proper...
title race.
On 7 June 2007, Bayern Munich signed Ribéry to a four-year deal for a then club-record
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
25 million. Ribéry was given the number 7 shirt, which was freed up due to the retirement of club legend
Mehmet SchollMehmet Scholl is a former German football player born to a German mother and a Turkish father. He finished his career after the 2006–07 Bundesliga season. Scholl played most of his career as an attacking midfielder for FC Bayern Munich. He is one of the most successful German players in recent...
at the end of the previous season. He made his team début one month later, scoring twice in an 18-0
friendlyAn exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
drubbing of Munich youth side FT Gern.
He made his competitive debut for Bayern on 21 July 2007 against Werder Bremen in the first round of the Premiere Ligapokal, scoring twice. He also netted an early goal in Bayern's 2-0 victory over defending champions
VfB StuttgartVerein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...
in the semifinals, but was unable to play in the final (won by Bayern) due to injury. On 8 June 2008, Ribéry was named the 2007-08 German Footballer of the Year.
International career
Ribéry earned his first cap with
FranceThe France national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA....
in a 1-0 victory over
MexicoThe Mexico national football team represents Mexico in international football competition and is managed by the Mexican Football Federation Association...
on 27 May 2006; he started the match but was substituted for
David TrézéguetDavid Sergio Trezeguet is a French-Argentinian football striker who currently plays for Juventus of the Italian Serie A and formerly for the French national team.-Club career:...
in the 74th minute. He was part of France's roster for the
2006 FIFA World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th instance of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000...
, where he scored one goal. He played in the
finalThe 2006 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 9 July 2006 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin to determine the winner of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Italy beat France on penalties after the match finished 1–1 after extra time...
where France lost to
ItalyThe Italy national football team represents Italy in international football competition and is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio...
, and his only shot on goal came in extra time. He scored the only goal in France's 1-0 win over
EnglandThe English national football team represents England in international association football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England...
on 26 March 2008.
On 17 June 2008, during France's 2-0 Euro 2008 loss to
ItalyThe Italy national football team represents Italy in international football competition and is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio...
, Ribéry suffered an injury in the eighth minute after rupturing a ligament in his left ankle, and underwent successful surgery in Munich two days later. His return to play happened in the 65th minute of Bayern Munich's 2-0 win over Nuremberg in the third round of the DFB Cup on 24 September 2008. Ribery then scored the only goals in two matches which gave France a double 1-0 win in a home-away roust against Lithuania to boost France's chances of getting into the
FIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.
International goals
| # |
Date |
Venue |
Opponent |
Score |
Result |
Competition |
| 1. |
27 June 2006 |
FIFA WM Stadion HannoverThe AWD-Arena is a football stadium located in Hanover, Germany. The 49,000 capacity stadium is the home ground of the Bundesliga club Hannover 96.-History:...
, HanoverHanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
, GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
|
| 1 – 1 |
3 – 1 |
2006 FIFA World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th instance of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000...
|
| 2. |
2 June 2007 |
Stade de FranceThe Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 81,338 and is used for the French rugby union team during the Six Nations and other major internationals...
, Saint-DenisSaint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 kilometres from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis.Saint-Denis is home to the royal necropolis of Saint...
, FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
|
| 1 – 0 |
2 – 0 |
UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying |
| 3. |
26 March 2008 |
Stade de FranceThe Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 81,338 and is used for the French rugby union team during the Six Nations and other major internationals...
, Saint-DenisSaint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 kilometres from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis.Saint-Denis is home to the royal necropolis of Saint...
, FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
|
| 1 – 0 |
1 – 0 |
Friendly match An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
|
| 4. |
3 June 2008 |
Stade de FranceThe Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 81,338 and is used for the French rugby union team during the Six Nations and other major internationals...
, Saint-DenisSaint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 kilometres from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis.Saint-Denis is home to the royal necropolis of Saint...
, FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
|
| 1 – 0 |
1 – 0 |
Friendly match An exhibition game is a sporting event in which there is no competitive value of any significant kind to any competitor regardless of the outcome of the competition...
|
| 5. |
11 October 2008 |
Stadionul Farul, ConstanţaConstanţa is the oldest living city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast...
, RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
|
| 1 – 2 |
2 – 2 |
2010 FIFA World Cup qualificationThe qualification competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an ongoing series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC , CAF , CONCACAF , CONMEBOL , OFC , and UEFA — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament, based...
|
| 6. |
28 March 2009 |
S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, KaunasKaunas Kaunas Kaunas and Vilnius-Klaipėda (A1)...
, LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
|
| 1 – 0 |
1 – 0 |
2010 FIFA World Cup qualificationThe qualification competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an ongoing series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC , CAF , CONCACAF , CONMEBOL , OFC , and UEFA — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament, based...
|
| 7. |
1 April 2009 |
Stade de FranceThe Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 81,338 and is used for the French rugby union team during the Six Nations and other major internationals...
, Saint-DenisSaint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 kilometres from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis.Saint-Denis is home to the royal necropolis of Saint...
, FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
|
| 1 – 0 |
1 – 0 |
2010 FIFA World Cup qualificationThe qualification competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an ongoing series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC , CAF , CONCACAF , CONMEBOL , OFC , and UEFA — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament, based...
|
Club
- Statistics accurate as of 10 July 2009.
|-
|2000–01||rowspan="2"|
BoulogneUnion Sportive de Boulogne-sur-Mer Côte d'Opale is a French football team that played the Ligue 2 of the French league for the 2008–2009 season. The club was founded in 1898.- History :Boulogne were founded in 1898 by English people visiting the area...
||CFA Group A||4||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||4||1
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|2001–02||
Championnat NationalThe Championnat de France National , or simply the National, is the third highest division in French football, one division below Ligue 2, one above the Championnat de France Amateur.The Championnat National consists of 20 teams...
||24||5||1||0||colspan="2"|-||25||5
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|
2002-03The Ligue 2 season 2002/2003, organised by the LFP was won by Toulouse FC and saw the promotions of Toulouse FC, Le Mans UC72 and FC Metz, whereas AS Beauvais, ES Wasquehal and Stade de Reims were relegated to National.-20 participating teams:-Final table:...
||
Alès Olympique Alès is a French football club founded in 1923, based in the commune of Alès. The Cévennes club currently playing in the Division d'Honneur Régionale - the seventh division - of the Ligue du Languedoc; the club in the past has played for six seasons in Ligue 1...
||
Championnat NationalThe Championnat de France National , or simply the National, is the third highest division in French football, one division below Ligue 2, one above the Championnat de France Amateur.The Championnat National consists of 20 teams...
||18||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||18||1
|-
|
2003-04The Ligue 2 season 2003/2004, organised by the LFP was won by AS Saint-Étienne and saw the promotions of AS Saint-Étienne, SM Caen and FC Istres, whereas ASOA Valence, Besançon RC and FC Rouen were relegated to National.-20 participating teams:...
||
Stade BrestoisStade Brestois 29 are a French football club, based in Brest. As of 2009-2010, the team plays in Ligue 2. They play their home matches at the Stade Francis le Blé, a stadium with a capacity of 10,228....
||
Championnat NationalThe Championnat de France National , or simply the National, is the third highest division in French football, one division below Ligue 2, one above the Championnat de France Amateur.The Championnat National consists of 20 teams...
||35||3||2||1||colspan="2"|-||37||4
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|
2004-05The 2004/2005 season of Ligue 1 was a very close-run battle. Separating fourth placed Rennes, who enter the UEFA Cup and 18th placed Caen, who get relegated to Ligue 2, were 13 mere points. Lyon were long time leaders and had won the league back in April 2005...
||
MetzFootball Club de Metz is a French football team, playing in the town of Metz, in the Lorraine region, which has played in the French Ligue 1 for most of its history.- History of the club :...
||
Ligue 1Ligue 1 is the top division of French football, one of two divisions making up the LFP, the other being Ligue 2. One member club, AS Monaco, is based in the independent Principality of Monaco, rather than in France proper...
||20||2||1||0||colspan="2"|-||21||2
|-
|
2004-052004-2005 Turkish Super League were 47th edition of Turkish league and 4th edition of Turkish Super League. Fenerbahce SK won their 16th title, being 3 points ahead Trabzonspor and 4 points ahead Galatasaray. In the final fixture, Diyarbakirspor were 1 point behind Sakaryaspor...
||Galatasaray||Süper Lig||14||0||3||1||colspan="2"|-||17||1
|-
|2005-06||rowspan="2"|
MarseilleOlympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (also known as l'OM, is a professional French football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, they play in Ligue 1 and have spent most of their history in the top tier of French football...
||
Ligue 1Ligue 1 is the top division of French football, one of two divisions making up the LFP, the other being Ligue 2. One member club, AS Monaco, is based in the independent Principality of Monaco, rather than in France proper...
||35||6||6||3||7||1||48||10
|-
|2006-07||
Ligue 1Ligue 1 is the top division of French football, one of two divisions making up the LFP, the other being Ligue 2. One member club, AS Monaco, is based in the independent Principality of Monaco, rather than in France proper...
||25||5||7||1||5||1||37||7
|-
|2007-08||rowspan="2"|
Bayern MunichFC Bayern Munich is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful club in German football, having won 21 German titles and 14 cups....
||
BundesligaThe Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other sports in the two countries....
||28||11||7||5||10||3||45||19
|-
|2008-09||
BundesligaThe Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other sports in the two countries....
||25||9||3||1||8||4||36||14
161||23||17||5||12||2||190||30
14||0||3||1||colspan="2"|-||17||1
53||20||10||6||18||7||81||33
228||43||30||12||30||9||288||64
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Bayern Munich
- DFB-Ligapokal
The DFB-Ligapokal, or German League Cup, is a German football competition that takes place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top four teams of the previous Fußball-Bundesliga season, the winner of the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga and the winners of the DFB-Pokal in Germany...
: 2007
- German Cup
The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is an elimination football tournament held annually. It is the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga championship.-Format:...
: 2008
- Bundesliga
The Bundesliga is the highest level of Germany's football league system. The term Bundesliga also applies to football in Austria and is used to refer to the highest level league competitions in several other sports in the two countries....
: 2008
Individual
- French Player of the Year
France Football is a French bi-weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It's one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of their photographic reports and accurate statistics of the big European Cup matches, and extensive coverage of the European...
: 2007, 2008
- German Footballer of the Year
The title Footballer of the Year has been awarded in Germany since 1960. In 1996 the title Women's Footballer of the Year was awarded for the first time. Both awards are determined by a poll of German football journalists from the Association of German Sports Journalists and the publication Kicker...
: 2008
- UEFA Team of the Year
The UEFA Team of the Year is a football award given by UEFA through a poll on its . This award started in 2001 to allow users and visitors of the organization's website to choose their own eleven players and a coach based on their overall performances in European club football...
: 2008
Personal life
When Ribéry was two years old, he and his family were involved in an automobile accident in
Boulogne-sur-MerBoulogne-sur-Mer is a city in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city was 44,859 in the 1999 census, whereas that of the whole metropolitan area was 135,116.-Name:...
, colliding with a truck. Ribéry suffered serious facial injuries that resulted in over one hundred stitches and left two long scars down the right side of his face.
His wife, Wahiba, is a French national of Algerian descent, and the couple have two daughters, Hizya and Shakinez. Ribéry is a convert to
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
.
External links