Les Bleus Least Likely Love Triangle: Ribery, Madame Ribery & Gourcuff

August 28th, 2010 | by: Sarah | View Comments

In England, it is not unusual for the private lives of football players to make the front pages of newspapers. Its not unusual for papers to print stories (alleging!) players are sending pornographic photos of themselves to random women across the country, engaging in extra-marital activities and impregnating numerous women along the way. The (alleged) scandal involving John Terry, Wayne Bridge and Wayne Bridge’s former girlfriend (and mother of his child) definitely broke the mold when it surfaced this summer (for the record, she denied it). Regardless, the idea behind this scandal “struck a cord” (read: sold a lot of papers). The French, not wanting to be outdone in their quest to be the most scandal-prone team, ran amok this year…

They handballed their way to the World Cup. They dropped the team’s future stars (Nasri, Benzema, Ben Arfa) from the squad. Some of them were investigated for paying an underage girl for sex. They fought their own training staff. They boycotted training. They didn’t win a single game at the World Cup. They only scored one goal in the entire tournament. And now, a former team doctor is trying to put the cherry on top. As Chris revealed earlier this week, Jean-Pierre Paclet, who served as the team doctor from 2004-2008 recently made some astonishing allegations regarding some of the French players blood samples.  He tops the implied doping accusations when he asserts the “real” reason behind the fall-out between Frank Ribery and Yoann Gourcuff.

Through the summer, Ribery was one of the players accused of “bullying” Gourcuff this summer.  Many reasons were given:  socioeconomic divisions, Gourcuff was “too nice,” competitive jealousy etc.  But, despite the fact that this is France, no one ever suspected a possible love triangle was at the root of this problem.

Paclet alleges that Ribery’s wife, Wahiba, was still upset during the World Cup over the news that her husband may have paid an underage prostitute for sex (allegedly!).  As his birthday present (allegedly!).  For the record, Ribery has never denied sleeping with Zahia- but he has denied both knowing she was not 18 at the time and paying her (other than providing money for a cab ride).  This “news” had broke a few months before the World Cup, but it dominated the headlines leading up to the tournament.  According to Paclet, the relationship between Ribery and Gourcuff turned sour when the players families visited them during their pre-tournament training camp in Tunisia…

Wahiba Ribery seized the opportunity and adds. She didn’t let Yohan Gourcuff, [who] came alone, leave her sight and made it known to her husband. Ribery didn’t think any of it. Finally, yes. Bad. Much harm. Wahiba used the ideal provocation. Since the camp in May at Tignes, Ribery seems distant from Gourcuff. On the field, he makes virtually no pass [to Gourcuff]. “

A second article references another example.

During lunch, Gourcuff found at table without a companion, causing a reaction. Including this [from the player's wives]: “Me, I would accompany [you] well. The players did not appreciate it…

Well, I have to say that was the most boring love triangle allegation I’ve ever heard.  I expect much more than sharing a lunch table from the French.  I’m pretty sure that only counts as first base in kindergarten- ya know, before kids get crazy and share the same blanket during nap time.

The book, which has made a few headlines, has been discredited by many of the players (Desailly said he didn’t know Paclet and he must need money to feed himself).  The fact that he is reporting on events that he wasn’t even present for (he did not participate in the 2010 or 1998 World Cup) does not help boost Paclet’s credibility.  When asked why he decided to publish these claims now, Paclet said that his disappointment in the behavior of the players this summer made him want to reveal the other skeletons in the France closet.  Makes sense.  If you are embarrassed by your team being a laughing stock, you would definitely want to publish more claims to substantiate that.  Not.