Wife set to stand by under-fire Ribery: report

France star Franck Ribery’s wife is reported to be set to stand by her man, despite the Bayern Munich midfielder being linked to an under-age call-girl scandal, German daily Bild claimed Wednesday.

The 27-year-old has been at the centre of a media storm since revelations about the human trafficking case, in which Ribery and his France team-mate Sidney Govou were called as witnesses, broke last weekend.

According to Bild sources, his wife, Wahiba, for whom Ribery converted to Islam, will be at Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final, first-leg clash against Lyon at Munich’s Allianz Arena in a show of solidarity.

The couple have two daughters together, Hizya, 4, and Shahinez, 2, and were married in 2002.

On Monday, a French judicial official told AFP that during police questioning, Riery admitted having relations with the prostitute but said he did not know she was underage.

It is now up to the judge presiding over the case to decide whether or not to bring charges against him.

If charged and found guilty Ribery could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (60,000 dollars).

With Bayern facing Lyon on Wednesday, Ribery is expected to play having trained with the squad on Tuesday, but was kept away from the following press conference for international media.

His team-mates Philipp Lahm and Daniel van Buyten admitted they had been instructed to say nothing about the scandal surrounding Ribery.

The French star this season has been linked to multi-million euro transfers to Barcelona and Real Madrid, but the prospect of a Ribery transfer to Real Madrid has dimmed because of the allegations, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Sports daily Marca, without citing sources, said the scandal swirling around Ribery had “warded off almost definitely” the chance of his joining the Spanish giants.

Last week Ribery, said he planned to make a decision on his future “within 10 days” and with his Bayern deal expiring in June 2011, he hinted last month that he would favour a move to Spain if he opted to leave Bavaria.