The words of Kylian Mbappé, spoken at the very end of the press conference, Sunday June 16, went somewhat unnoticed. They weighed very little compared to those that the captain of the Blues had held, a little earlier, on the political situation in France and the potential arrival of the National Rally in power at the end of the legislative elections. Asked about his potential participation in the Olympic football tournament, which the French team will begin on July 24 against the United States, the Bondynois nevertheless put an end to a long-standing debate: he will not play in the Paris 2024 Games.
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“My club has a position that is very clear”, declared the striker who has just signed with Real Madrid. In March, the Spanish team sent a letter to the French Football Federation (FFF): it will not release its Tricolores for the event. Namely Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Ferland Mendy… and Kylian Mbappé – whose signing with the Madrid giant was then an open secret.
The team led by Florentino Pérez is in the right. Professional clubs are not forced to give up their players for the competition, which takes place on dates which are not included in the calendar planned by the International Federation (FIFA).
“I also understand, I’m joining a new team. Join a new team in September [après les Jeux et la préparation pour la nouvelle saison]it’s not the best start to an adventure”, conceded Kylian Mbappé. The captain of the Blues had, in reality, already resigned himself for many months to giving up taking part in the event. Even if he really wanted to.
A first call for the Tokyo Games
“Everyone knows that I have always dreamed of competing in the Olympics (…). I can’t decide, but I really hope I could do them once in my life.”, he declared on TF1, on May 18, 2021, a few weeks before the Tokyo Games. A call to the foot to which Paris Saint-Germain had already not responded positively. The 2024 edition, in his city, therefore appeared to be the ultimate objective for the French international.
A few months later, during D-1,000 before the opening ceremony, Kylian Mbappé once again declared his love at the high mass of sport: “I want to experience the Paris Games. They will be in France, they are those of the centenary in Paris. It’s not the biggest competition in football, but you have to make the Games in your career. This is the thing I really want to achieve. »
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The Minister for Sports at the time, Roxana Maracineanu, said “delighted with this position”. “We need to have such champions at the Olympics”had echoed his successor, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, in an interview with West France in June 2023. The Bondynois’ Olympic dream will not have stood up to the reality of modern football.
“I hope they will bring us back the gold medal”
It seemed highly unlikely that Real Madrid, who agreed to pay him a significant signing bonus for the start of his five-year contract, would agree to sell him at a time when the players are preparing for the upcoming season.
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Kylian Mbappé was well aware of these scheduling constraints. “There is a club, a national team, with a Euro before, so we have to discuss, take all these parameters into account. There is also a truth, which is that I will not force myself to make the Olympic Games”he already said in April 2023, at the microphone of France Télévisions.
In recent weeks, the FFF, at the initiative of its president Philippe Diallo, had launched a final offensive to try to convince Florentino Pérez. He was supported in this enterprise by the President of the Republic himself, Emmanuel Macron, during a lunch organized at the Elysée on May 21. Despite extensive and cordial exchanges, the president of Real did not give in.
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With his declarations, on the eve of the entry into contention of the French team in the European Nations Championship, against Austria, Kylian Mbappé therefore acknowledges that he will follow the Madrid Olympics, where he will have taken its neighborhoods in order to prepare for the 2024-2025 season. This will not prevent him from “watch all the matches as a supporter. I hope they will bring us back the gold medal”.
