THESE days, France is generally accepted as football's greatest talent production factory. Every other street in Paris may claim to have a future international. It wasn't always like this. When the country failed to qualify for the 1988 Euros, the Federation Francaise de Football (FFF) quietly moved their centre of excellence from Vichy to Clairefontaine (think of it as their BCCI's centre of excellence but for football). An hour's drive from the capital, the federation also made the move to bring kids not yet teenagers.
Within a few years, Thierry Henry, a future global superstar, enrolled as a child. Twelve years after Clairefontaine took off, France had won the World Cup and the Euros. Since then, their residential programme has birthed and given wings to the dreams of many French kids. When this daily spoke to Julien Sokol (now team manager at Ligue Un club Lyon), a former scout for the club, it was apparent that he revered the establishment. "The relationship between player and ball is the king," he had said a few years ago. "So, by the time a kid graduates, technical aspects are already keyed in."
Around 2010, another child travelled that same path from a Paris banlieue to Clairefontaine in the hope of a professional career.
Kylian Mbappe.
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In the last two World Cups, the narrative around the French attacker was different. In 2018, the hype around him was to see whether he was everything the football community thought he was (spoiler: he was). In 2022, it was to see if he was on the path towards greatness (spoiler: yes).
In 2026, he's no longer the story of tomorrow. He's very much football's present tense. The Messi of the TikTok generation; the Ronaldo among kids who would rather consume sport via the medium of reels and clips. On the pitch over the three group games, he has again displayed the kind of skills that have taken him to the top of the world game. Blessed with pace to burn, underrated dribbling skills and an unerring capacity to finish, he has already added four more goals to his World Cup tally. Already level with Miroslav Klose on 16, the overwhelming feeling is that if France reach a third final in a row, the 27-year-old could well threaten Messi's tally this year itself. Even otherwise, he has at least one more World Cup and will likely finish as the leading goal-scorer in the history of the event when he's done.
His general play is also evolving. At the last two global events, he had Olivier Giroud; it afforded Mbappe the space to cut in off the left-hand side or go on on the outside. This year, Mbappe is the main man up top but he's a very different kind of centre-forward. More mobile and somebody who has the capacity to interchange with both wingers.
In 2018 and 2022, he was all about direct running and finishing. Now, he is more involved in the build up and brings wingers into play. That he has two assists in 2026 (the combined tally he had across 2018 and 2022) is a testament to the way he has evolved as a striker. Messi is still doing his thing for Argentina and Ronaldo's fan following is unmatched but once both of them leave the sport for good, the sport's ultimate selling point will start with the Real Madrid man.
It's kind of a crazy thing to say because he need not score another goal at the World Cup but his legacy will already be secure. One World Cup title, another World Cup final and nobody has scored more knockout goals than his eight (Messi has five and Ronaldo zero). Just in terms of sheer numbers alone, he already has a bigger World Cup legacy than, say, Ronaldo.
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The French talisman had an interesting lead up to the World Cup. At the absolute peak of his powers in the international game, a meme had started to do the rounds. The meaning behind the series of memes spoke of his importance as well as his authority and new found status as leader inside the French dressing room; a place that has trapped many a previous leader wearing French blue.
The memes, calling him as a dictator, suggested the kind of influence he wields. A few days ago, on a rain-soaked surface at East Rutherford during the game against Iraq, there was a moment when the French captain pointed to the groundstaff where there was some standing water. That has since been cut, edited and memed. Staying on the subject, after he was substituted in the game versus Iraq, he had asked the on-field referee to hand over his captain's armband to Aurelien Tchouameni. That picture of him and the referee in the same frame has also received the meme treatment. "Dictator Mbappe ordering the referee (laughing/crying emoji)."
Outside of the memes, the kind of questions the forward has received from the French media has also been telling. Earlier in June, one of the journalists asked if he was eyeing a run at the French presidency following a career in football. "I'm hated enough as it is," was his response.
For the time being, though, France and their people will look up to him to keep delivering the goals, beginning against Sweden on Tuesday. And you would be a brave person to bet against him.