Franck Ribery retires from international football
Franck Ribery has today decided to bring down the curtains on his international career. The Bayern Munich winger brings an end to an 8 year association with the French national team with the announcement.
Speaking to the German football magazine Kicker, the 31 year old said: "I quit. I feel this is the right moment to do so. There were ups and downs. Now is the right time for a new chapter in my life!”
He went on to say that the reason for his swansong were “purely personal” in nature: "I want to dedicate myself more to my family, I concentrate on the tasks at Bayern and also make way for some great young and exciting players in the national team."
“One has to know when to stop. I have experienced so much and now is the time for others to come forward. You could see at the World Cup that we should have no concerns about France’s future.”
Ribery missed out on the World Cup earlier this year after sustaining an injury to his lower back during a training session.
The ex-Marseille man has been 81 times by Les Bleus, scoring 16 goals.
Ribéry became the talisman of the national team following the retirement of Zinedine Zidane , but he was never quite able to fill his big shoes with France getting knocked out of the FIFA World Cup in 2010 in the group stages without registering a single victory.
The most success he had with the national team was a runners-up medal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup while playing alongside Zidane.