Franck Ribery announces decision to make Brazil World Cup his last

Sport360 staff 16:00 21/05/2014
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  • France star Franck Ribery declared on Wednesday that the 2014 World Cup finals would be his last but the Bayern Munich forward left the door open to compete at Euro 2016.

    Ribery burst on to the international scene at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and has since helped Bayern Munich become one of the major forces in European football. 

    The 31-year-old made the announcement on RTL radio and will now be hoping that France can cause a major upset by winning the World Cup on South American soil. 

    "This will be my final World Cup," declared Ribery. "We have to go there to achieve something, to try to win the World Cup, quite simply."

    In 2006 he helped steer France to the final where they lost in a penalty shoot-out against Italy. His 2010 World Cup experience proved vastly different, with France's knocked out in the first round and Ribery involved in an infamous players' strike at a training session.

    Ribery will join 17 of France's World Cup squad at Les Bleus' training headquarters at Clairefontaine outside Paris later Wednesday.

    He travels to Brazil having won the German league and cup double with Bayern.

    France, under manager Didier Deschamps, who skippered the French to the 1998 World Cup title on home turf, are drawn in Group E. They open against Honduras on June 15, before tackling Switzerland on June 20 and Ecuador five days later.

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