Kylian Mbappé’s difficult season took another turn on Monday when the 27-year-old forward failed to win any award at the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP) ceremony, the most prestigious individual honors in French football. This marks the first time since 2017 that Mbappé has been left empty-handed at the event.
Since turning professional in the 2015/16 season with Monaco, Mbappé had won at least one category in each of the eight editions held—the only exception being 2020 when the ceremony was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His first UNFP award came in 2017 when he was named the Best Young Player of Ligue 1, having been a key figure in Monaco’s title-winning campaign at just 16 years old. After his move to Paris Saint-Germain, he retained the young player award for the next two seasons. In 2019, he added the Ligue 1 Player of the Year trophy, an honor he would claim four more times between 2021 and 2024.
Even after swapping PSG for Real Madrid, Mbappé continued to shine at the UNFP gala. Last year, he won a third different category: Best French Player Playing Abroad. This time, however, despite being Real Madrid’s top scorer with 41 goals, Mbappé’s lack of silverware and a poor end to the season—plagued by injuries and criticism from fans over his performances and off-field behavior—counted against him. The award for Best French Player Abroad went to Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise.
The night’s main prize went to PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé, who was named Ligue 1 Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Dembélé also took home the award for the league’s most beautiful goal, scored against Lille. The PSG winger previously won the Best Young Player award in 2016 during his time at Rennes.
Another PSG standout, Désiré Doué, won the Best Young Player award for the second year running. With the club on the verge of securing the Ligue 1 title, PSG placed five players in the league’s Team of the Year: Hakimi, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, and Dembélé. Ligue 1 runners-up Rennes had two winners: Pierre Sage as Coach of the Year and Robin Risser as Goalkeeper of the Year.
