It doesn’t seem to be the year of French footballers. Firstly France was widely criticised for the manner in which they qualified for the 2010 Football World Cup, one of their players allegedly handled the ball to set up a goal against Ireland in the qualifying match; then the put up a disgraceful performance in the World Cup and did not advance past the first round, needless to say they even went on a training session strike during the World Cup to revolt against their ‘incompetent coach’ and now two of its biggest stars face a term in prison.
French midfielder Franck Ribery and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema have been charged with paying for sex with an underage girl. Prostitution is legal in France, but the sex workers must be over 18 years old, and apparently clients are liable if they are not.
Another embarrassing factor for French Football is that despite France’s Health and Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot statement that any player under judicial investigation should not represent France, Ribery was made part of the World Cup team even though investigations in this case had begun way back in April. In fact the police postponed the hearing until after the World Cup.
This case sprung up some three months back when the French police questioned a Zahia Dehar, one of 18 girls caught during a police raid on the Café Zaman, a nightclub on the Champs Elysee this April. Miss Dehar told the officers that she had sex with players from the French Football team. She claimed she met Benzema at a nightclub and he bought her services and that Ribery flew her to a hotel in Germany for a night as a birthday present to himself.
Now while Ribery has been charged with soliciting an underage prostitute for sex and faces up to three years in prison and a € 45,000 fine, Benzema is still to be charged for the same by the police officers.
Ribery, who is one of the most popular figures in French Football, had already spoiled his image in the public eye with his doings at the World Cup and now with these charges he may have just added uncertainty to his career’s future. His only saving grace is that he still has his wife supporting him, but we wonder till how long she will too put up a brave front to his infidelity.
Popularity: 3% [?]
