Franck Ribery Is Short and Doesn't Want to Be Upstaged By a Kid Who's Taller Than Him [Video]

Franck Ribery is short, standing only 5-foot-7. The Frenchman is also a damn good soccer player, winning Bundesliga Player of the Year honors in 2012-13 for Bayern Munich.

Ribery and his Bayern teammates were part of a testimonial match in the Netherlands last week for former Dutch captain Mark van Bommel. A problem arose when the players lined up in the tunnel for the typical procession onto the field where they are joined by children. In this case, Ribery’s escort (or mascots as they call them in Europe) was taller than him, so not to be upstaged he swapped with teammate Holger Badstuber. Quick thinking.

Everybody wins … but I still don’t understand why they call kids “mascots” across the pond.