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See the full story · 1 sourcesKylian Mbappé in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Credit: Shaun Botterill - FIFA/FIFA via Getty
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Kylian Mbappé spoke out about France’s World Cup loss in a lengthy message to French soccer fans
“We’re not bringing a collective trophy home. It hurts, and it will hurt for a while. I won’t pretend otherwise,” he said
Mbappé thanked the fans for supporting the team, as well as his teammates, organization staff and others
Kylian Mbappé says that not bringing home the World Cup trophy “will hurt for a while.”
The 27-year-old French soccer star posted a lengthy message to fans on Instagram on Monday, July 27, more than a week after the 2026 World Cup final, where he expressed his disappointment in the team’s ending.
“We’re not bringing a collective trophy home. It hurts, and it will hurt for a while. I won’t pretend otherwise,” Mbappé wrote.
Kylian Mbappe on July 4, 2026 in Philadelphia Credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty
The soccer star said he’s “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,” he continued before thanking his 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,” he said. “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.”
Mbappé went on to thank the fans who “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.”
Mbappé then acknowledged France’s former head coach, Didier Deschamps, who was replaced by Zinedine Zidane on Tuesday , writing that he’s “already said to Didier what I needed to say.”
“He knows,” Mbappé continued. “Thank you to him, 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.”
Mbappé concluded his message writing: “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.”
France came into the 2026 tournament as favorites, thanks largely to Mbappé and his scoring prowess. Their dreams of a third World Cup win, though, came to an end when they lost to eventual winners Spain in their semifinal on July 14.
Four days later, they had a shot at a third-place finish, but lost to England, 6-4.
Read the original article on People
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