What Did Kylian Mbappé Mean by His Social Media Message?

The France captain broke his silence after Les Bleus finished fourth at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Is he considering retirement?

French forward Kylian Mbappé thanked the French fans on Monday for standing behind the national team, despite falling short of bringing home the World Cup trophy. The Real Madrid striker, who captains Les Bleus, admitted the disappointment "hurts and will hurt for some time" in an open letter shared with the media.

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MBAPPÉ'S EMOTIONAL MESSAGE

"We didn't come home with a team trophy. It hurts, and it will hurt for a while—I won't lie about that. I'm proud to have won the Golden Boot, but it would have meant so much more if it had come alongside the trophy. Maybe we owed you a happier ending. But you don't always get to choose how the story ends; you choose what you put into it, and we gave everything we had. That's something we're proud of," Mbappé wrote.

A MESSAGE OF GRATITUDE

The 27-year-old captain also paid tribute to his teammates, saying he "never would have scored so many goals without them," while thanking the entire coaching staff. He reserved special praise for outgoing head coach Didier Deschamps, adding that he had already told him "everything that needed to be said—he knows."

Mbappé also expressed his appreciation to the French supporters for never abandoning the team.

"You never left us alone. Not even during the toughest moments, not even when we deserved it the least. This journey was written by millions of hands, not just the eleven players on the pitch, all driven by the same passion," he said.

"At its core, football is still a game. A game we take incredibly seriously, one we spend our entire lives trying to master, but a game nonetheless—with the same simple rules that have never changed since we first started playing: a ball, a goal, and the desire to score. That's why it brings us all together with the same passion," added the former Paris Saint-Germain star.

LOOKING AHEAD

Mbappé made it clear that, despite France's World Cup campaign ending with a semifinal defeat to Spain—who went on to beat Argentina in the final—the story is far from over.

"There will be other matches, other summer and winter afternoons when we'll all come together again for this same game, with the same excitement still alive. We're not done playing together yet," Mbappé promised.

France closed out the tournament with a 4-6 defeat to England in the third-place playoff, bringing its World Cup run to an end.