5 Most probable destinations for Franck Ribery

#2 Qatar

Ribery played for Metz and Marseille under Jean Fernandez

There is an awful lot of money floating around in Qatari football and a fair sum of it has been used to establish links with the French game. Paris Saint-German is owned by Qatar Sports Investments, while the the beIN Sports network from the Arab country has taken over the broadcast rights to the large majority of the major European and international competitions of France.

There could therefore be some cache in securing an internationally known French player such as Ribery for the Qatar Stars League, particularly so with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar now on the horizon.

Al-Duhali, formerly known as Lekhwiya SC, are the dominant team in Qatar, having won five of the last seven league titles. They have a good number of French speakers across their coaching and playing staff as well.

But the most compelling option for the Frenchman is the Al-Gharafa unit, which is coached by Jean Fernandez. It was Fernandez who gave Ribery his first opportunity in the French top flight at Metz back in 2004, and later, they also worked together at Marseille. The pair is complimentary of each other in interviews frequently and the relationship could be key to Ribery joining Al-Gharafa if a move to Qatar becomes viable.