Kylian Mbappé has ruled out a run for the French presidency. The France captain doesn't see himself at the Élysée! He reckons he's "hated enough as it is".
Kylian Mbappé has ruled out a run for the French presidency. The France captain doesn't see himself at the Élysée! He reckons he's "hated enough as it is".
At 27 still has a lot to show on the football field, but a question keeps popping up. Will he go from being the French football team captain to being the French president?
Before the Blues 2026 World Cup debut, he tried to put it at rest for good. Asked directly whether he harboured presidential ambitions, Mbappé replied: "No, don't worry! I am not talking about being President. Quite a lot of people say that, but it isn't in my plans. I am hated enough as it is!"
This doesn't mean he rules out a public life beyond football. He will remain in the spotlight, but as an entrepreneur, pointing to the company he has built. "I have a lot of possibilities for after my career. I have a business which has grown well. If I want to be a businessman, I'll be a businessman. If I want to have bigger aspirations, I'll have bigger aspirations," he said.
The speculation about a potential presidential bid has roots. Since being handed the France armband, Mbappé has been willing to wade into political debate. He called on voters to reject the far-right in the build-up to Euro 2024, and he repeated that appeal in a recent interview with Vanity Fair.
That outspokenness has not gone unchallenged. While Michel Platini criticised his intervention, the national team manager, Didier Deschamps, defended Mbappé's.
He has also kept lines open at the top of French politics, meeting privately with President Emmanuel Macron on more than one occasion.
The man fielding these questions is one of the most decorated players of his generation. Mbappé won the World Cup at his first attempt in 2018. Four years later he scored a hat-trick in the final, only for France to fall short of becoming the first nation in 60 years to retain the trophy.
This World Cup campaign opens a new chapter. The Real Madrid forward leads France out as captain. The armband has widened his platform, and with it the number of questions that have nothing to do with goals.
The denial landed just before France's match against Senegal in Group I, and the build-up has put Mbappé in front of the cameras for far more than tactics.
His comments arrive in a tense political climate in France, where a footballer's word carries unusual weight. Mbappé has made clear he intends to keep speaking on social issues while refusing a formal political path.
