Overview
- Kylian Mbappé published an open letter on Monday, July 27, thanking fans, teammates and support staff for their backing during the 2026 World Cup.
- He accepted the tournament Golden Boot while stressing that the individual prize would have meant more with a team trophy and that the defeat “will continue to hurt for a while.”
- Mbappé credited his teammates for his goals and wrote that the scoring honour belongs as much to the collective as to him.
- The letter included a direct thank-you to Didier Deschamps, and separate media reports say Deschamps has left the job and Zinedine Zidane has been mentioned as a possible successor; those coaching reports were not presented as confirmed within Mbappé’s message.
- France reached the semifinals before losing to Spain, the tournament winner under Luis de la Fuente, and Mbappé — who captained France in his third World Cup — framed the loss as painful but as fuel to keep playing for the national team.