Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé has published a post on his social media to thank the French fans after their debacle in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Semifinals against Spain.
THANK YOU.
A month of exhilaration. Of overcoming challenges. Of pride in bearing France’s colors.
Above all, a month of passion—the very passion that ignites us on the field and animates you, whether in front of a screen or in the stands. This is what we experienced together, an incredible story.
We are not bringing home a collective
trophy. It hurts, and it will continue to sting for a while; I won’t mislead you on that front.
I accept the top scorer title with pride, but it would have been immeasurably better with the cup as well.
Perhaps we owed you a more beautiful ending. But one does not always choose the conclusion of a story; one chooses what goes into it, and we gave everything. For that, we are proud.
My gratitude to my teammates. Without their efforts, their runs, their passes, without the team spirit that carried us from the first match to the last, I would never have scored so many goals. This title is as much theirs as it is mine.
As a child, I dreamed of playing in a World Cup, at least one. I have played in three, won one, and this year, I had the honor of competing as captain. I will never forget it.
You stayed up late, sometimes into the heart of the night depending on time zones, to watch us play on the other side of the world; you gathered at home, in bars, with family or friends, across France and beyond.
Others were as close as possible to us, in the stadiums, with the flag draped over their shoulders. Children with sparkling eyes, men and women of all backgrounds and generations, united by the same pleasure—that of sharing. That is the strength of this sport.
And you never abandoned us, not even in the toughest moments, not even when we least deserved it. This story was written with millions of hands, not just eleven on the field, driven by the same passion.
To Didier, I have already said what needed to be said; he knows. My thanks to him and his entire staff as well—physiotherapists, chefs, trainers, drivers, all those whom no one ever sees and without whom none of this would be possible. And to those 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 our whole lives to try and master, but a game nonetheless, with its simple rules that haven’t changed since we started playing it: a ball, a goal, a desire to score. That’s why it unites us all with the same passion.
This World Cup concludes, but the story continues. There will be other matches, other summer or winter nights when we will all gather in front of that same game, with the same desire intact. We are not finished playing together.
Thank you for everything.
