Franck Ribéry

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Franck Ribéry
Personal information
Date of birth	April 7, 1983
Place of birth	Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Height	1.73 m (5' 8")
Nickname	The Magician, Scarface, Howie, Ferraribéry, Gillou (France)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder, Winger
Club information
Current club	Olympique Marseille
Number	7
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005 2005-present	US Boulogne Olympique Alès Stade Brestois 29 FC Metz Galatasaray Olympique Marseille	24 (5) 18 (1) 35 (3) 20 (2) 14 (0) 53 (9)
National team2
2006-	France	15 (1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of March 10, 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of October 11, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Franck "Bilal" Ribéry (born April 7, 1983, in Boulogne-Sur-Mer) is a French football player who currently plays for Olympique Marseille either as an attacking midfielder or a left- or right-sided winger, and recently has been touted by the media as the successor to Zinédine Zidane as the star of the French national team, due to his increasingly impressive performances.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Honours 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

He signed a contract with Turkish club Galatasaray in January 2005, and went on to help them win the 2005 Turkish Cup by scoring a key goal in a 1-0 victory in the semi-final and scoring a goal and assisting another in a 5-1 win in the final against rivals Fenerbahçe. The Galatasaray fans were impressed with the young Frenchman's skills, and quickly gave him the nickname, "FerraRibery". But in June of that year, he abruptly left the Istanbul club and joined Olympique de Marseille, the sixth club of his career. The move was a controversial one, especially in Turkey: Galatasaray claimed Ribéry's contract was still good and that all back wages had been paid to Ribery, but Ribéry claimed the contract was void because, he claimed, that the club's management owed him back wages. The case is under FIFA arbitration as of June 2006. The move to Marseille has since earned him top French player honours for the months of August, October and November 2005.

On June 12, 2006, he was named in the starting lineup of the French team for their opener in the 2006 FIFA World Cup against Switzerland. His first international goal proved to be a crucial one, levelling France at 1-1 with Spain in the 41st minute of their knockout round match after calmly rounding the Spanish keeper, Íker Casillas. Though Spain were the favourites, France went on to win that game 3-1 to book a quarter-final slot against Brazil.^[1]

Upon facing Brazil on July 1, 2006, Ribéry was substituted in the 75th minute of the 1-0 victory following an impressive performance.He also played in the World Cup final defeat to Italy where he went close with a low shot in the first half of extra-time.^[2]

After a much-praised performance throughout the tournament, Ribéry was consequently linked with a possible move to FC Bayern Munich, Arsenal F.C., Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Internazionale or Olympique Lyonnais. However, he stated in July 2006 that he plans on seeing out the next four years at Marseille.^[3] In a confusing turn of events, shortly after making this statement, Ribéry claimed during an interview for French top channel TF1 that he had changed his mind and will eventually quit Olympique de Marseille. Marseille's president has since specifically denied that any offer for Ribéry has been made to Marseille by any club whatsoever.^[4] In particular, Ribéry has been strongly linked to Arsenal but the more likely Real Madrid, with rumours circulating in October 2006 that Marseille have already reached an agreement with the English club for the player. This has been denied by the Marseille sporting director, who however, for the first time confirmed there was interest from Arsenal and Real Madrid for Ribéry, but said that OM would not sell their best players because the management intended "to claim a place in the Champions League".^[5] During the January transfer window, he has been linked with a move to FC Bayern Munich, where he could star alongside fellow French national team player Willy Sagnol. ^[6]

Many believe Ribery will leave Marseille this coming summer. Real Madrid, Premiership duo Arsenal and Manchester United and Bayern Munich are all after his lucrative signature.

Ribéry is a Muslim, having converted to Islam^[7] around the time he married his Muslim fiancée Wahiba Belhami who is of Algerian descent (originally from Nedroma, Tlemcen).^[8] Ribéry has adopted the Arabic name Bilal. They have one daughter together, Hizya, who was born on July 18, 2005.^[9].

[edit] Honours

• Winner of Turkish Football Cup in 2005 playing for Galatasaray.
• Winner of UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2005 playing for Olympique Marseille.
• Runner-up of Coupe de France in 2006 playing for Marseille.
• Runner-up of the FIFA World Cup 2006 (July 9, 2006)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Franck Ribéry Tactical Formations at Football-Lineups.com

• Videos, Photos and french news

• Biography of Ribery by Andy Hampson
• Frank Ribery FAN SITE

	France squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Landreau | 2 Boumsong | 3 Abidal | 4 Vieira | 5 Gallas | 6 Makélélé | 7 Malouda | 8 Dhorasoo | 9 Govou | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Saha | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Givet | 18 Diarra | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Chimbonda | 22 Ribéry | 23 Coupet | Coach: Domenech

Olympique de Marseille - Current Squad
1 Carrasso | 2 Civelli | 3 Taiwo | 4 Rodriguez | 5 Cantareil | 6 Bocaly | 7 Ribéry | 8 Oruma | 9 Cissé | 10 Pagis | 11 Niang | 13 Maoulida | 15 Zubar | 16 Hamel | 17 N'Diaye | 19 Cana | 20 Camara | 21 Cesar | 22 Nasri | 23 Beye | 26 Bamogo | 28 Valbuena | 29 Koke | 35 Leo | Manager: Emon