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Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé has disclosed that missing out on the trophy will continue to hurt for a while following France’s fourth-place finish at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
In an open letter to fans, the French captain addressed the team’s exit and expressed his gratitude to supporters and outgoing coach Didier Deschamps.
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He also claimed personal and collective responsibility after Les Bleus were outplayed 2-0 by Spain in the semifinals and subsequently lost the third-place playoff 6-4 to England.
“A month of emotion. Of pushing beyond our limits. Of pride in wearing the colors of France. And above all, of passion: the same passion that drives us on the pitch and that drives you, whether you were watching from home or cheering in the stands. That’s what we experienced together. An incredible story.
‘We’re not bringing a collective trophy home. It hurts, and it will hurt for a while. I won’t pretend otherwise. I’m proud to have won the Golden Boot, but it would have meant far more with the World Cup beside it. Maybe we owed you a better ending. But we don’t always get to choose how the story ends. We do get to choose what we put into it, and we gave it everything. That much we can be proud of.
‘Thank you to my teammates. Without their work, their runs, their passes, without the spirit that carried us from the first match to the last, I could never have scored so many goals. This award belongs to the team as much as it belongs to me. As a kid, I dreamed of playing in a World Cup. Just one. I’ve now played in three, won one, and this year I’ve had the immense honor of captaining my country. I will never forget it.
‘So many of you stayed up late, some of you deep into the night, to watch us play an ocean away. You gathered at home, in bars, with family and friends, in France and far beyond it. Others were there with us in the stadiums, draped in the French flag. Children with stars in their eyes. Men and women of every background and every generation, united by the simple joy of sharing the moment.
‘You never stopped believing in us. Not in the hardest moments. Not even when we deserved it least. This story was written by millions of hands, not just by the eleven on the field, all of them carried by the same passion.
‘And I’ve already said to Didier what I needed to say. He knows. Thank you to him, to his entire staff, to the physios, the chefs, the fitness coaches, the drivers, and to everyone working behind the scenes whom no one ever sees and without whom none of this would have been possible. And thank you to everyone who welcomed us and supported us across the United States.
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‘At its heart, football is still a game. A game we take very seriously, one we spend a lifetime trying to master, but a game all the same, and it still comes down to what it came down to when we first started playing: a ball, a goal, and the desire to score. That’s why it brings us together the way it does.
‘This World Cup has come to an end, but the story goes on. There will be other matches, other nights in summer and in winter when we’ll all come together again over this same game, with the same undiminished excitement. Our journey together is far from over.
‘Thank you for everything. Kylian Mbappe.’
