Berlin – International players cannot simply decide to retire from their national teams, UEFA president Michel Platini says in interviews published in Germany Sunday.
Platini told Bild am Sonntag he had “zero understanding” for the decisions by Germany’s Philipp Lahm and France’s Franck Ribery, both of Bayern Munich, to quit their national teams.
Ribery would be banned for three matches if he did not accept an invitation to join the France squad, fellow Frenchman Platini told Bild and Sonntag and Welt am Sonntag newspapers.
“It is not the decision of the players whether or not they join the national team. It is the coach’s decision,” Platini told Bild am Sonntag.
“If there is an agreement between Lahm and (Germany coach Joachim) Loew that the coach no longer selects him that’s one thing. But on principle it is not Lahm’s decision but Loew’s.”
With Ribery it is “a quite different situation,” Platini said.
“Franck Ribery can’t simply decide himself whether or not he plays for France. If coach Didier Deschamps invites him he is obliged to go to the national team. That is set down in FIFA’s statutes.
“If he doesn’t come he will be banned for three matches with Bayern Munich.
“I don’t understand him in any case. He is French and the European Championships are taking place in 2016 in France, not in Poland. He must want to play.” – Sapa-dpa