French international footballers Franck Ribéry and Karim Benzema are to face trial for allegedly soliciting an underage prostitute, judicial sources said on Tuesday.

• No proof Ribery knew prostitute was 16 (18 Nov 11)

The footballers are among eight people that investigating magistrate André Dando has sent for trial as well as the Zaman Cafe on Paris' Champs Elysées

where the meetings with Zahia Dehar took place.

Some of the defendants will be prosecuted for "aggravated pimping", according to judicial papers.

Paris prosecutors had in 2011 requested that the case against the two French football stars be dropped on the grounds that they did not know that
Dehar was aged under 18.

Dehar, now 20, told police she was paid for sex with Ribéry in 2009 and Benzema in 2008 when she was aged 16. She claimed that both players were not
aware that she was under age.

The affair broke during 2010 and tarnished the image of the France football team just weeks ahead of the World Cup in South Africa.

Ribéry, 29, plays for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and 24-year-old Benzema with Primera Liga giants Real Madrid.

Both face a possible three years in prison or a €45,000 fine.