Mbappe’s Letter To Fans After France’s Semifinal Finish in FIFAWC 2026

Paris: Days after France ended their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign in the semi-finals, superstar striker Kylian Mbappe wrote a heartfelt letter to fans, saying not being able to bring home the trophy “will continue to hurt for some time” and thanking fans for their relentless support.

Despite dominating most of the group and qualifying rounds, France lost 2-0 to Spain and 4-6 to England in the third place match. Although Mbappe was the top scorer of the tournament with 10 goals and broke Lionel Messi’s record as the all-time top scorer in the FIFA World Cup with 22 goals, Mbappe could not achieve the result he wanted. However, his run from the 2018 FIFA World Cup title to the 2026 semi-finals also included a runner-up finish in 2022 and gave Messi-led Argentina a scare with a hat-trick in the final, making it one of the best runs in FIFA World Cup history.

The letter, published in regional media on Monday, included some personal photographs, including a childhood photo of Mbappe standing in front of his idol Thierry Henry.

“We didn’t bring home a team trophy. It hurts and will continue to hurt for a while, I’m not going to lie to you about that,” he said in his letter to fans, as reported by Goal.com.

He devoted a large part of his letter to fans who followed the tournament despite time zone differences, staying up late, rallying as much as they could to support France.

“You stayed up late, sometimes until midnight depending on the time zone, to watch us play on the other side of the world. You gathered at home, in bars, with family or friends all over France and beyond,” he emphasized.

“Others were with us in the stadiums, with flags on their shoulders.

Children with shining eyes, men and women of different origins and generations are 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 our hardest moments, even in the moments we least deserved. “This story was written not just by eleven people on the field, but by millions of hands, all driven by the same passion.”

“Above all, passion is what drives us on the field and what moves you in front of the screen and in the stands, the same passion. That’s what we experienced together, it’s an incredible story,” he continued.

Mbappe, the top scorer, feels the void of individual success without the World Cup and says: “I proudly take the title of top scorer, but it would be even better with the cup. Maybe we owed you a better ending. But we don’t always choose the end of the story, we choose what we put in it and we put everything into it. We are proud of that.”

Thanking his teammates, Mbappe stated that he would not have scored so many goals “without their work, running, passing and team spirit” and said that the individual FIFAWC 2026 top scorer title belongs to them as much as it does to him. He also explained that his childhood dream was to play in the FIFA World Cup, which he won once in 2018 and was captain in this cup.

“I would like to thank my teammates. Without their work, runs and passes, without this team spirit that carried us from the first match to the last match, I could not have scored so many goals. This championship belongs to the team as much as it does to me. When I was a child, I dreamed of playing in at least one World Cup. I played in three of them, won one and had the honor of playing as captain this year. I will never forget this.”

Mbappe also thanked the hard work of his mentor and former coach Didier Deschamps, who announced that FIFAWC 2026 will be his last tournament against France. It is planned to replace Deschamps, who achieved World Cup victory with France, with the legendary Zinedine Zidane as coach.

“I have already told Didier what I need to say, he knows it. I thank him and all his staff: the physiotherapists, the cooks, the trainers, the drivers, all the people that no one has ever seen and without whom none of this would have been possible. And to those who welcomed us to the United States throughout this tournament,” he said.

Finally, Mbappe emphasized the simple reason why football brings everyone together with the same passion and said: “Football remains, at its core, a game. A game that we take very seriously, that we try to master all our lives, but still has simple rules that have not changed since we started playing, the ball, the goal, the desire to score goals. That’s why it brings us all together with the same passion.”