A relatively late developer, the much-travelled Franck Ribéry has risen to prominence as one of Europe's most crowd-pleasing footballers. A clever dribbler and playmaker, he sets up as many goals as he scores. He was prominent for France at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2008.

• A disjointed start to his club career concluded with half a season at Galatasaray AŞ, for whom he failed to register in the league but opened the scoring in the 2005 Turkish Cup final – a 5-1 win against Istanbul rivals Fenerbahçe SK.

• Made his major breakthrough at Olympique de Marseille but lost successive Coupe de France finals, in 2005 and 2006.

• Uncapped until a fortnight before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he made his first international start in France's opener against Switzerland, then scored his maiden goal in the last-16 encounter with Spain and retained his place through to the final.

• Joined Bayern in 2007 for a club-record fee of €25m and inspired the Bavarians to a domestic double of Bundesliga and German Cup, winning the German footballer of the year crown as a result.

• Badly injured his left ankle against Italy at UEFA EURO 2008 and was out of action again in autumn 2009 with tendonitis, but made his comeback in January and played a key role in Bayern's Bundesliga and German Cup successes, scoring in the final of the latter competition against SV Werder Bremen.

• Suspended for the 2010 UEFA Champions League final – which Bayern lost to FC Internazionale Milano – having been sent off in the semi-final first leg against Olympique Lyonnais, he endured more disappointment two years later on home soil when Jupp Heynckes' team lost to Chelsea FC on penalties.

• Featured for France in a disappointing World Cup campaign in South Africa and passed a half-century of caps during qualifying for UEFA EURO 2012.

UEFA honours
UEFA Champions League: runner-up 2010, 2012
UEFA.com users' Team of the Year: 2008