France were beaten 2-0 by Spain in the semi-finals before losing an extraordinary third-place play-off 6-4 to England, a match in which Mbappé scored twice to become the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 22 goals, overtaking Lionel Messi. He also finished the tournament with the Golden Boot after scoring 10 times, the most of any player at the finals.
The defeat marked the end of Didier Deschamps's 14-year reign as France head coach, with the veteran manager having already confirmed before the tournament that he would step down regardless of the result.
Mbappé, 27, is currently on holiday and will link up with new Real Madrid head coach José Mourinho in the coming weeks as the club look to reclaim the LaLiga title they have not won since 2024. Before then, he used social media to thank France's players, staff and supporters in a 520-word message that read in full:
"Thank you. A month of emotion. Of pushing beyond our limits. Of pride in wearing the colors of France. And above all, of passion: the same passion that drives us on the pitch and that drives you, whether you were watching from home or cheering in the stands. That's what we experienced together. An incredible story.
"We're not bringing a collective trophy home. It hurts, and it will hurt for a while. I won't pretend otherwise. I'm proud to have won the Golden Boot, but it would have meant far more with the World Cup beside it. Maybe we owed you a better ending. But we don't always get to choose how the story ends. We do get to choose what we put into it, and we gave it everything. That much we can be proud of.
"Thank you to my teammates. Without their work, their runs, their passes, without the spirit that carried us from the first match to the last, I could never have scored so many goals. This award belongs to the team as much as it belongs to me. As a kid, I dreamed of playing in a World Cup. Just one. I've now played in three, won one, and this year I've had the immense honor of captaining my country. I will never forget it.
"So many of you stayed up late, some of you deep into the night, to watch us play an ocean away. You gathered at home, in bars, with family and friends, in France and far beyond it. Others were there with us in the stadiums, draped in the French flag. Children with stars in their eyes. Men and women of every background and every generation, united by the simple joy of sharing the moment.
"You never stopped believing in us. Not in the hardest moments. Not even when we deserved it least. This story was written by millions of hands, not just by the eleven on the field, all of them carried by the same passion.
"And I've already said to Didier what I needed to say. He knows. Thank you to him, to his entire staff, to the physios, the chefs, the fitness coaches, the drivers, and to everyone working behind the scenes whom no one ever sees and without whom none of this would have been possible. And thank you to everyone who welcomed us and supported us across the United States.
"At its heart, football is still a game. A game we take very seriously, one we spend a lifetime trying to master, but a game all the same, and it still comes down to what it came down to when we first started playing: a ball, a goal, and the desire to score. That's why it brings us together the way it does.
"This World Cup has come to an end, but the story goes on. There will be other matches, other nights in summer and in winter when we'll all come together again over this same game, with the same undiminished excitement. Our journey together is far from over.
"Thank you for everything. Kylian Mbappé."
Alongside the message, Mbappé shared a childhood photo of himself in front of posters of Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry.