Retired since October 2022, after a final stint at Salernitana, Franck Ribéry narrowly escaped a terrible tragedy.
It’s now been more than two years since Franck Ribéry ended his career. A somewhat anonymous end to his career at Salernitana, the 41-year-old French winger had piled up trophies in his prime, playing for Bayern Munich in Germany. He notably came close to winning the Ballon d’Or in 2013.
But “Kaiser Franck” doesn’t regret his farewell to the pitch, for the simple reason that his body couldn’t take it anymore. “My knee hurt more and more,” he said in a recent interview with L’Equipe. “I was no longer training between matches but rather recovering to protect myself. I would take two days off, then three or four.”
“I lost my rhythm to save myself. Then the tests revealed that I no longer had any cartilage,” continues the former French international (81 caps). “I went under the knife in Austria. The operation went well, with the placement of a plate inside.” The rest was much less rosy, with the former Marseille player even nearly having his leg amputated.
Franck Ribéry: “They could have amputated my leg”
“I had a serious infection almost five months later. For two months, I took pills. They removed the plaque. The infection had eaten away at me. It was so bad that I had holes in my leg,” says the Boulogne native. “I had contracted Staphylococcus aureus. I was in the emergency room at the hospital in Austria for twelve days. I was really scared.”
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