"You never let us down": Kylian Mbappé addresses a letter to the French after the World Cup

A week after the end of the 2026 World Cup, Kylian Mbappé chose to address the French people directly. The captain of Les Bleus published a lengthy letter in several newspapers on Monday. This unusual public statement, a departure from television interviews and social media, was to thank the fans after a month of competition marked by a run to the semi-finals, but also by a painful end. France left the World Cup without a trophy after their defeat against Spain in the semi-finals, and then against England in the third-place match. Despite this fourth-place finish, Kylian Mbappé finished as the tournament's top scorer with ten goals.

In his letter, accompanied by three photographs, including a picture of himself as a child in front of a Thierry Henry poster, the Real Madrid striker reflects on his disappointment, thanks his teammates, and pays tribute to Didier Deschamps and speaks at length to the millions of French people who followed Les Bleus despite the late hours.

A letter addressed to all of France

" THANKS.

A month of emotion. Of pushing boundaries. Of pride in wearing the colors of France.

Above all, it's about passion, the same passion that drives us on the field and drives you, whether you're watching on screen or in the stands. That's what we've experienced together, an incredible story.

We didn't bring home a team trophy. It hurts and it will continue to hurt for a while, I'm not going to lie to you about that.

I take the top scorer title with pride, but it would have been so much better with the cup as well.

Perhaps we owed you a better ending. But we don't always choose the ending of the story; we choose what we put in it, and we put everything in. We're proud of that.

Thanks to my teammates. Without their hard work, their runs, their passes, without that team spirit that carried us from the first match to the last, I could never have scored so many goals. This title belongs as much to the team as it does to me.

As a child, I dreamed of playing in a World Cup, at least one. I played in three, won one, and this year I had the honor of playing in it as captain. I will never forget it.

You stayed up late, sometimes until the middle of the night depending on the time zones, to watch us play on the other side of the world, you found yourselves at home, in bars, with family or friends, all over France and elsewhere.

Others were right there with us, in the stadiums, flags draped over their shoulders. Children with shining eyes, men and women of all backgrounds and generations, united by the same joy: the joy of sharing. That's the power of this sport.

And you never gave up on us, even in the toughest times, even when we least deserved it. This story was written by millions of hands, not just eleven on the ground, driven by the same fervor.

I've already said what I had to say to Didier, he knows it. Thank you to him, and to his entire staff too: physiotherapists, cooks, trainers, drivers—all those people no one ever sees but without whom none of this would be possible. And thank you to everyone who hosted us in the United States throughout this competition.

Football, at its core, remains a game. A game we take very seriously, that we work on our whole lives to try and master, but a game nonetheless, with its simple rules that haven't changed since we first started playing: ball, goal, the desire to score. That's why it unites us all with the same passion.

Kylian Mbappé concludes by explaining that this World Cup is over, but the story between Les Bleus and their fans will continue. He invites the French to join him for the upcoming matches, for more summer or winter evenings shared with the same passion, and assures them that the players and their supporters are not finished playing together. He ends his letter with these final words: "Thank you for everything." Mbappé thus closes the chapter on the 2026 World Cup by thanking those who supported Les Bleus. Despite the pain of elimination and the absence of a trophy, the captain is already looking to the future and promises that the story between the French team and its fans is far from over…