'Ribery didn't know hooker was 16'

French prosecutors said that football international Franck Ribery did not know that a prostitute he paid for sex was a minor and have called for the case against him to be dropped.


Franck Ribery

The Bayern Munich midfielder was charged in July 2010 with soliciting an underage prostitute after his encounters with Zahia Dehar, who was 16 when they had sex. Fellow French international Karim Benzema was also under investigation for allegedly having had sex with Dehar.

The two players must have been unaware that Dehar was underage, as "she has said herself that she told them she was 18", the prosecution said, adding that the case had "collapsed".