Quote (waw @ 7 Sep 2014 15:16)
this
no player should be forced to play for the national team
No, they shoudln't, however they shouldn't be forced to not play for the national team either, which is why this rule was created. The idea was to prevent big clubs from pressuring their players to refuse to play for the national team.
It's more of an issue for the african teams, as the ANC is held in january and many african players that play in Europe can be pressured by their clubs to stay with them instead of going to the touranment. It also protects players that play in Europe but come from small countries far away from Europe and have to play random WC qualifiers even though their country won't qualify, or just friendlies.
Normally when a player doesn't want to pay for his national team, the FA from that country respects the decision and doesn't call him. The french FA shouldn't be a dick about this and accept Ribéry's decision, because it's obvious he hasn't been pressured by his club. I remember when Higuaín was 19, he was called up by Domenech to play for France, but he asked the French FA to not call him because his dream was to play for Argentina, the country where he grew up and his family was from, dispite the fact he was born in France. The french FA respected the decision and all was good, I'd be surprised if they acted differently in this case. If Ribéry wants to retire, they should respect it.