The Mbappe and Dembele conflict: What is happening in the France national team dressing room?

13 November 2026, 16:012 min read53

Discussions surrounding the France national team are relentless. In particular, the team captain and star forward Kylian Mbappe's relationship with his national team teammates, specifically Ousmane Dembele, has become significantly more complicated in recent months. According to reports from the prestigious L'Equipe publication, this situation is having a serious impact on the atmosphere within the team.

The battle for the Ballon d'Or and an unanswered WhatsApp message

It turns out that the competition for the Ballon d'Or between Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele has escalated the situation. Mbappe did not fully realize how much these disagreements would affect the atmosphere in the national team dressing room.

"The team captain believed the disagreements had been resolved (even though his WhatsApp message went unanswered) and did not understand Dembele's attitude toward him. He considered this reaction disproportionate to the situation", the publication reports.

The situation in the France national team	Key details and factors
Main conflict	The coldness between Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele
One of the reasons	Misunderstandings against the backdrop of the Ballon d'Or race
Mbappe's behavior	Keeping himself apart from the team over the last five days and growing closer to Olise
Main challenge	Resolving these issues under the new coaching staff (the Zidane era)

Isolation from the team and unexpected behavior

Due to the resulting coldness, Mbappe has kept himself more isolated from the team over the past five days and only managed to establish a closer relationship with certain teammates, including closer relationship with Olise .

Seemingly feeling disconnected from the squad, Mbappe tried to actively show interest in the well-being of his teammates or coaching staff members in private conversations. However, such unexpected attention may have seemed to some within the team like self-interest or an artificial attempt to get close.

Experts believe that such relationships between Mbappe and Dembele will certainly remain one of the most important and delicate issues during the Zidane era as he takes charge of the team.

In your opinion, how much can such personal disagreements and competition between star players negatively affect the national team's performance on the pitch? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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