Zinedine Zidane has expressed his hope that Franck Ribery will return to the France team and suggested the Bayern Munich man will follow his own example.
Zidane, 42, quit international football in 2004 only to return a year later and help guide his nation to the 2006 World Cup final in Germany.
Ribery announced in August he was ending his career with Les Bleus to focus on his club football and spend more time with his family. The 31-year-old has made only a handful of substitute appearances this season as he continues to struggle with various injury problems which blighted him last season and saw him miss the World Cup finals in Brazil.
Despite that Zidane, who was playing at Real Madrid when he withdrew from the France setup, told Canal Plus Ribery may experience similar feelings to his own when seeing many of his teammates leave during international weeks.
"It was no longer possible for me to endure what I went through after six months," he said. "When you're a player at the top level, you love competition, you love playing, and that's what happened. There came a time when I was not able to just rest for three or four days when the international players went away. I trained by myself in Madrid, and I said to myself that that could not continue.
"If I wanted to stay at my best, I had to come back and continue with France. I hope that will also be Franck's choice, to come back. That wouldn't be a bad thing for the team."
Zidane, meanwhile, has seen his fledgling coaching career put on hold by the Spanish Football Federation, who have imposed a three-month touchline ban on the Real Madrid Castilla coach. That ban, which Madrid are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, came despite a letter of support for the former Bordeaux and Juventus star from the French FA (FFF), according to RMC.
In the letter, the FFF reportedly explained Zidane was doing well in his continuing studies to get the required licence to coach a professional club, and that he had special dispensation, as do Bastia boss Claude Makelele and Willy Sagnol at Bordeaux, to coach at the highest level in France while completing his badges.