His form for Bayern in the club's 2012–13 treble winning season saw him nominated alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the three-man shortlist for the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or.

[16] When he was two years old, he and his family were involved in a car accident in his hometown, colliding with a lorry; he suffered serious facial injuries that resulted in more than one hundred stitches and which left two long scars down the right side of his face, and another across his brows.

Ribéry only made four appearances in his debut season as Boulogne, who were playing in the CFA, the fourth division of French football, earned promotion to third-tier Championnat National.

Although Boulogne finished 17th, which meant a return to the fourth division, Ribéry's solid performances earned him a move to fellow National club Olympique Alès.

While playing for the club, Galatasaray supporters nicknamed him "Ferraribery", in reference to his quick acceleration with the ball at his feet and also "Scarface" due to a large scar located on the right side of his face.

[citation needed] On 15 June 2005, Ribéry announced that he would be returning to France joining Ligue 1 club Marseille on a five-year contract, plus reuniting with former manager Jean Fernandez.

On 25 April 2007, their appeal was dismissed by the court, who declared in a statement that Ribéry had terminated his contract with the Turkish club at the end of the 2004–05 season on just grounds, and that Galatasaray was therefore not entitled to any compensation.

In Europe, Ribéry scored two goals in the UEFA Intertoto Cup against Italian club Lazio and Spanish outfit Deportivo de La Coruña.

[citation needed] Following Ribéry's success internationally at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a bidding war occurred in order to obtain his services with English club Arsenal initially offering €15 million for the player.

[56][57] In the Coupe de France, Marseille again reached the final with Ribéry, for the second straight season, putting them there scoring the game-winning goal in a 3–0 semi-final win over Nantes.

[68] In the DFB-Pokal final, Ribéry assisted on Luca Toni's opener in the 11th minute in a match Bayern won 2–1, thus claiming their 14th cup title.

[69] In the UEFA Cup, Bayern reached the semi-finals, with Ribéry scoring three goals in the competition, including one in the Germans' comeback win over Spanish club Getafe in the quarter-finals.

[87] In early October, the tendinitis began to affect his play, which resulted in Ribéry missing the rest of the year, as well as France's World Cup playoff tie with the Republic of Ireland.

[90] On 31 March, he scored the equalising goal in Bayern's 2–1 first leg win over English club Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals after converting a free kick, which deflected off of striker Wayne Rooney before going into the net.

Two days later, Ribéry's appeal was heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was dismissed meaning he was officially ruled out of the UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan on 22 May.

He was among the first World Cup players to arrive to pre-season training and made his season debut on 16 August 2010 in Bayern's 4–0 victory over Germania Windeck in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

[113] On 15 January, in Bayern's first league match following the winter break against Wolfsburg, Ribéry suffered a lower leg injury in the first half as a result of a tackle by Brazilian midfielder Josué.

[128] Despite the player himself fearing he may have torn ligaments in the ankle, after an examination, club doctors revealed that the injury was not as serious as first thought, and Ribéry missed only one competitive match, a 3–0 DFB-Pokal away win over Eintracht Braunschweig on 1 August 2011.

[143] On 17 April, Ribéry scored Bayern's opening goal in its 2–1 first leg victory over Spanish club Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

[171] On 27 March, Ribéry then suffered an ankle injury in a 7–0 home victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League 2nd leg match of the Round of 16 tie and was sidelined for the remaining of the season.

[204] On 6 September 2021, Ribéry signed for Salernitana, agreeing on a one-year contract with an automatical renewal in case the club succeeded in keeping its Serie A status by the end of the season.

In the following 2022–23 season, Ribéry only managed to play 36 minutes in a game against Roma as he regularly struggled with a recurring knee injury, thus leading to rumours regarding his possible immediate retirement.

On 27 June, he scored France's opening goal in the team's 3–1 Round of 16 win over Spain after receiving a through ball from Patrick Vieira, which allowed the winger to dribble past an oncoming Iker Casillas and shoot into the empty net.

On 21 March, after arriving to Clairefontaine ahead of the team's matches against Luxembourg and Croatia, Ribéry attended a personal press conference in which he apologised for his behaviour overall during the 2010 calendar year.

[233] In his first match at the Stade de France since his participation at the World Cup, against Croatia, Ribéry appeared as a substitute and was subject to jeers from some section of supporters, though other parts of the stadium chanted his name.

[238] Four days later, he capped off the trio of lead-in friendly matches ahead of the European Championship by scoring the opening goal in a 4–0 shutout win over Estonia.

[239] Ribéry was included in France's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but on 6 June, coach Didier Deschamps confirmed that he would miss the tournament through injury.

[2][197][247][254] Ribéry was described as a provocateur on the field of play, with UEFA referring to him as "a crowd-pleaser – one of those rare breed of footballer capable of enjoying his talents while expressing them",[255] due to his trickery, artistry, and creativity on the ball.

[288] On 29 April 2010, the country's Secretary of State for Sports Rama Yade, after refusing to publicly comment on the case in its infancy, declared that any player placed under investigation should not represent the France national team.

[291][292][293] In November 2011, prosecutors asked for the cases against Ribéry and Benzema to be dropped, saying that the players were not aware that the escort, identified as Zahia Dehar, was 16 years old when they had paid to have sex with her.