Bayern Munich legend Franck Ribéry is going to South Korea in September.
The 42-year-old winger has been invited to the Nexon Icons Match in Seoul. The announcement was made on the 23rd of July.
The Icons Match is a large-scale event hosted by Korean gaming giants Nexon and charity Shoot For Love. The concept was to bring together a group of retired footballing legends and split them into two teams - offensive and defensive - based on their positions in their playing days. This writer actually wrote
a hypothetical post about it using Bayern legends last year.
The first edition of the Icons Match was held last October, and featured legends like Didier Drogba, Kaká, Rio Ferdinand, Luís Figo, Michael Owen, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, Fabio Cannavaro, Thierry Henry, etc. This year, a lot of them will be making a comeback, along with a couple of new faces, including Ribéry.
Ribéry’s participation caught a bit of attention from Shoot For Love - they remembered that Ribéry had been sent off for slapping Koo Ja-cheol in a DFB-Pokal game against FC Augsburg in the 2012/13 season. Koo will also be joining the team this year and will play alongside Ribéry. The two are not harboring any ill feelings for each other, and exchanged warm video messages.
Ribéry will be the first Bayern alum to join the party, although it remains to be seen whether he will be the last. Unconfirmed rumors suggested that Philipp Lahm was close to joining last year’s team. Fans are currently clamoring for Ribéry’s partner in crime Arjen Robben to join as well.
Should this writer prevail in the arduous ticket booking process for the match, he will deliver a report on King Franck’s performance (along with any other Bayern legends, should they join the party).
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