The police had postponed the hearing at the Paris vice squad until after the World Cup, in which Ribery, a winger for Bayern Munich, was part of France’s disastrous campaign.

French media have suggested the players were clients of a nightclub in Paris’s Champs-Elysees upscale district that allegedly featured escorts, including the under-18 girl, Zahia Dehar, at the center of the affair. Local television station i-Tele said the two had been presented to a magistrate who will now decide whether to place them under judicial investigation, or free without charge.

The scandal, which gripped France ahead of the World Cup, took a new twist in late April when the young woman at the center of the case gave a lengthy interview to Paris Match magazine, implicating players and denying being a prostitute.

She said Ribery had invited her to Munich in April 2009 to celebrate his 26th birthday in a luxury hotel, adding that he had paid her for three encounters last year. According to French law, paid sex with someone under 18 is deemed sex with a minor.

Zahia, who turned 18 in February, confirmed widespread reports in the French press that she was underage when she met Ribery, but added that she had not informed him about her age.

Ribery’s lawyer Sophie Bottai told reporters on Tuesday that for her client to be found guilty the girl “would have had to look like a minor and that was not the case and... had informed him that she was under age, which was not the case.” The offense carries a penalty of three years in prison and a €45,000 fine ($58,390), although a conviction hinges on proving the accused knew the minor’s age.

Zahia “said in all the press that she told him (Ribery) and others that she was an adult,” Bottai added.

Ribery was France’s most popular player before the World Cup fiasco, in which ‘Les Bleus’ were eliminated in the first round without winning a match, and he took part in a revolt by players who boycotted a training session before their final game.

Benzema’s lawyer told France 24 television on Tuesday his client was being heard as a witness.

France striker Sidney Govou, who has just moved from Lyon to Panathinaikos of Greece, was also questioned by police along with Ribery in April about the escort girls’ network. Another France international Hatem Ben Arfa was questioned as a witness earlier in July.