Mbappe backs himself for Ballon d’Or after historic World Cup summer

The Real Madrid forward scored 10 goals at the tournament to win the Golden Boot, helping France finish fourth. He also took his overall World Cup tally to 22 goals, becoming the competition’s all-time leading scorer.

For a player of Mbappe’s profile, the Ballon d’Or conversation now feels inevitable.

“I think when you play for Real Madrid, the best club in the world, naturally people associate you with those awards,” Mbappe told reporters. “They associate you with collective awards and individual awards.”

“A lot of people who meet me in the street talk to me about the Ballon d’Or. A lot of people talk about me as a potential candidate for the award.”

Mbappe accepts that his World Cup exploits have strengthened his position, but he is not treating the prize as guaranteed.

“Of course, I made a lot of history this summer in the most important competition in sport, but we have to wait and see,” he said. “I feel it is a good year for that, but there is still a long way to go and everyone is free to vote for whoever they think is the best player in the world.”

The 27-year-old has scored heavily since joining Real Madrid in 2024, yet the club have not won a major title during his time in Spain.

That makes this season especially important. Real Madrid, 15-time European champions, welcome Inter Milan on Tuesday in their first Champions League league-phase match, with Mbappe hoping individual brilliance can finally translate into the trophies he wants most.

Madrid have faced questions about balance over the past 2 years. With Mbappe and Vinicius Junior among several elite attacking talents, critics have argued the side have not always contributed enough collectively compared with players such as Ousmane Dembele at Paris Saint-Germain or Raphinha at Barcelona.

Mbappe acknowledged that he and the team must improve, but he pushed back against simple comparisons.

“We have to improve,” he said. “But I could play innocent and tell you that I score more goals than Dembele and Raphinha, and they need to score more goals to be like me.”

“Everyone is different, but I want to do things intelligently and of course I need to improve myself. But I do not like comparisons because I think I do many things that other people do not do.”

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho recently said he would rather see Mbappe score fewer goals if it meant the forward worked even harder to help the team win titles.

“I would be happy with 30 goals and titles, but for me it is a pointless debate,” he said. “I always want to score goals and win trophies. You do not have to choose, you can do both.”