Franck Ribery has opened up about the scars on his face that have given him ‘character’ and ‘strength’ throughout his football career.
The 36-year-old has spoken publicly about the trauma on a number of occasions over the years and, in a moving interview with Canal + Sport last year, the player revealed how he had dealt with the pain of childhood.
If you haven’t heard the story before, Ribery suffered a serious head injury in a car accident at the age of two.
He was rushed to hospital and required 100 stitches after the accident in his home town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
According to Yahoo, he was not wearing a seatbelt, which caused him to crash through the vehicle’s windscreen.
Throughout his childhood, people looked at and pointed at Ribery in the street, saying how “ugly” the scars were.
But as we mentioned earlier, the French winger has taken a positive attitude to his situation.
“People were saying: ‘Look what’s on his face, look at his head. What’s that scar? It’s so ugly. “Everywhere I went, people were looking at me. “He told Canal + Sport.
“And not because I was a good person or because my name was Franck or because I was a good footballer, but because of the scar.
“They gave me character and that strength. Because, when you’re a child and you have a scar like this, it’s not easy. The way people see you, the comments – my family suffered from that.
“The people who talk about you are the parents (of other children), and it’s very cruel. I never went into a corner and cried, despite the pain.”
Ribery, who plays for Serie A side Fiorentina, also claimed in Simon Kuper’s book The Football Men: Up Close with the Giants of the Modern Game that the incident motivated him at a young age:
“The problem was that I was sitting at the back and flying forward on impact.
“In a way, that accident helped me. As a child, it motivated me,” he said.
“God gave me that difference. The scars are part of me, and people will just have to take me as I am.”
A strength for Franck Ribéry
During his childhood, but also when he was a professional footballer, Franck Ribéry received a lot of criticism and unflattering nicknames in connection with his scars. He has chosen to accept them as part of his identity, and to take positive action. “It’s what has given me this character, this strength too”, he confided to our Canal + colleagues, reports France 24. And he recounts his memories: “When you’re young and you’re marked like that, it’s not easy. The way people look at you, the criticism. (…) At school, parents look at you and talk amongst themselves. (…) It’s mean. When you’re young, you suffer. But even when people made fun of me, I never went into a corner and cried.
Never.” This strength of character has enabled Franck Ribéry to overcome a number of trials in his life. The former France national team player, often mocked for his French mistakes, is now a happy father and wants to become a coach. After retiring, Franck Ribéry went straight into coaching the Italian league.
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