Kylian Mbappe Takes On France's Far Right Ahead of World Cup
A year before France heads into another presidential election and just weeks before the World Cup, Kylian Mbappe has once again stepped into the political firestorm surrounding the rise of the far right in France.
A year before France heads into another presidential election and just weeks before the World Cup, Kylian Mbappe has once again stepped into the political firestorm surrounding the rise of the far right in France. The captain of the French national team has warned that an electoral victory for the far-right National Rally party could have serious consequences for the country, triggering a fierce backlash from party leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. While speaking in a profile for Vanity Fair, Mbappe made it clear that he sees the political moment in France as deeply worrying.
"I know what it means, and what kind of consequences it can have for my country when those kinds of people take control," Mbappe said in the article, which carried the cover line: "Liberte, Egalite, Mbappe."
The comments immediately reignited a familiar debate in France and across Europe: should footballers involve themselves in politics, or stick strictly to the game? Mbappe's answer was direct.
"We are citizens," he said. "We have a say, just like everyone else." But in France, Mbappe is not "just like everyone else."
At 27, he is one of the most influential athletes in the world and arguably the face of modern French football. A World Cup winner in 2018, Mbappe emerged from the working-class suburbs outside Paris to become a global superstar.Â
More than just a football icon, Mbappe has also become a symbol of multicultural France. His father was born in Cameroon and his mother is of Algerian descent, a background that reflects the diversity of the French national team itself.
That image has long been a point of friction for France's far right.
The National Rally, despite efforts in recent years to soften its public image, has historically struggled with the multicultural identity represented by Les Bleus. The tensions date back decades. In 1996, the party's founder Jean-Marie Le Pen questioned the French identity of the national team, claiming it was "artificial to bring in players from abroad and call them the French national team" - despite nearly the entire squad being born in France.
Mbappe's latest remarks were met with sarcasm rather than outrage from National Rally leaders.Â
The French Captain is hardly the first French football legend to publicly oppose the far right.
Zinedine Zidane, whose parents are of Algerian origin, had also urged voters to reject far-right politics during French elections in both 2002 and 2017. Mbappe himself previously spoke out during the 2024 legislative elections, describing the National Rally's gains in the first round as "catastrophic."
With France entering another politically charged year, the collision between football and politics appears unavoidable. Several members of the national team have also voiced concerns over the rise of the far right, turning Les Bleus into an increasingly vocal symbol of resistance against nationalist politics.
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