Mbappe takes a shot at Le Pen – and her right wingers strike back

 The French Right has turned on Kylian Mbappé after the footballer said a National Rally (RN) victory in next year’s presidential election would have grave consequences for the country.

The footballer – who is expected to lead France’s national team at the 2026 World Cup – made it clear he remained deeply opposed to Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s party in an interview with Vanity Fair, headlined: “Liberté, Égalité, Mbappé”.

Mbappé, 27, rejected the idea that footballers should “play and shut up”, insisting that he spoke first as a citizen. “It affects me,” he said of the prospect of an RN victory.

The Real Madrid forward, the son of a Cameroonian father and Algerian mother, said: “I know what it means, and what kind of consequences it can have for my country when those kinds of people take charge.”

His comments triggered mockery from Ms Le Pen, the party’s leader, and Mr Bardella, the RN president and her potential stand-in if her embezzlement conviction and ban from standing are upheld.

Both seized on Mbappé’s move from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) to Real Madrid, noting that his former team had prospered without him.

Ms Le Pen told RTL: “When he says we’re not going to win the elections, it reassures me because he left PSG for Real Madrid, saying it was to win the Champions League. In the meantime, PSG won.”

Mr Bardella issued a similar rebuke. He said: “I know what happens when Kylian Mbappé leaves PSG: the club wins the Champions League! (And maybe even a second time soon).” It was a reference to the May 30 final of the European club tournament, which will pit PSG against Arsenal.

Julien Odoul, an RN MP, accused Mbappé of dividing the country and called on the French Football Federation to intervene. He wrote on X: “I ask the president of the FFF, Philippe Diallo, to ensure that the captain of the France team does not divide the French people.”

The timing of the attacks is awkward for Mbappé, who has fallen out of favour with Real Madrid fans. He was whistled by supporters on Thursday after returning from a thigh injury as a substitute against Real Oviedo.

Fans had criticised him for taking a break in Sardinia while recovering, though he insisted he had had the club’s permission. In comments after the game, he claimed Álvaro Arbeloa, his coach, had told him he was now Madrid’s “fourth forward”, something Mr Arbeloa denied.

This is by no means the first time football and politics have collided in France, notably over immigration and identity.

The 1998 World Cup winners, led by Zinedine Zidane, were hailed as “black, blanc, beur” – black, white and Arab – a slogan meant to celebrate a multiracial republic.

At the time, Ms Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the party that became the RN, called it “artificial to bring in players from abroad and call them the French national team”. All but one member of that team had been born in France.

Mbappé has intervened before. In 2024, after the RN topped the first round of snap legislative elections, he called the result “catastrophic”.

He told Vanity Fair: “It shocked us. We are citizens, and we could not just stay there, tell ourselves everything would be fine and go and play.”

After the death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old shot during a police traffic stop in Nanterre in 2023, Mbappé wrote: “J’ai mal à ma France” – “My France hurts” – calling the situation unacceptable.