Eight years after France’s 2018 World Cup triumph, the players from that team still define the story—some with dramatic falls, others with delayed resurgence, and one with an uneasy sense of unfinished business.
In the pouring rain of Moscow, France celebrated its 2018 World Cup title—an image that still feels sealed in time. But eight years later, that same Équipe Tricolore is no longer one clean victory. It is a patchwork of return-to-form moments. public scandals. career detours. and the kind of injuries that quietly rewrite what a life on the pitch is supposed to look like.
For some, the World Cup didn’t end the story. It began a harsher second chapter.
Paul Pogba once seemed untouchable. In 2018, he was the face of the French national team. In the final against Croatia, he scored the goal that made it 3-1. At 25, the world of soccer appeared to belong to him.
Then came the downward spiral: injuries, athletic decline, and personal problems. After returning to Juventus, he kept battling physical ailments. The next shock arrived off the pitch when a blackmail scandal rocked his inner circle. His brother, Mathias, and others allegedly attempted to extort several million euros from him. Pogba later spoke of betrayal and described one of the most difficult phases of his life.
In 2023, the next blow followed a Serie A match. Pogba tested positive for DHEA. The original four-year suspension was later reduced to 18 months. He consistently maintained that he had no intention of enhancing his performance. After his contract with Juventus was terminated, he tried to reset his career at Monaco in 2025. Last season, though, the now 33-year-old barely featured. He was on the field for a mere 115 minutes.
Benjamin Mendy’s fall carried a different kind of weight—one that doesn’t lift neatly just because a court says “cleared.” He was charged in 2021 with several alleged sexual offenses and stood trial for months. Although he was later acquitted, his career never fully recovered.
Even after his return to professional soccer. Mendy remained tied more to headlines off the field than to the rhythm of top-flight matches. His reputation was permanently damaged, and big clubs wanted nothing to do with him. After stints at Lorient and FC Zurich, he fought in vain to return to top-flight football. Even in Zurich, his spell ended after a short time.
Last season, Mendy played for the Polish first-division club Pogon Szczecin. His contract expires at the end of June. It remains unclear whether and how the 31-year-old’s career will proceed. His market value has shrunk—from when he was once the most expensive defender in history. moving from Monaco to Manchester City for 57.50 million euros—to 400. 000 euros.
For Adil Rami. the shock wasn’t one court case—it was the way fame and friction followed him once the tournament ended. At the 2018 World Cup, he traveled as the fourth center-back and didn’t play a single minute during the tournament. Still, he became a world champion. Later, he joked that his biggest contribution had been the good atmosphere within the team.
After his playing career, he lived more loudly in the entertainment spotlight than in the soccer one. His former partner, Pamela Anderson, made serious allegations against him and publicly described him as violent and manipulative. Rami denied the accusations.
He later appeared on reality TV shows. even winning the French show “Les Traîtres. ” and became a media figure often associated more with entertainment than with soccer. In 2019. his contract with Olympique Marseille was terminated for “gross misconduct.” The reason: he called in sick to training but instead participated in a film shoot. even performing stunts.
Rami also made headlines with remarks about Lamine Yamal: “He’s already throwing parties. Wait until you’re older, you f******! He’s always walking around with jewelry and diamonds—he thinks he’s American. It really pisses me off.”
No player carries the price of that World Cup title quite like Samuel Umtiti. Before the 2018 World Cup, FC Barcelona’s doctors diagnosed a serious knee problem. Surgery would have jeopardized his World Cup participation, so he decided against it and played anyway.
He became a key figure in the tournament. scored the decisive goal in the semifinal against Belgium. and helped France win the title. But the triumph came with a consequence that followed him into every season after. His injured knee never fully healed. In a few years. Barcelona’s defensive leader became a chronic patient. and injuries plagued him until the end of his career.
In 2025, he retired at just 31 years old. Later, he spoke about the psychological consequences too—loneliness, depression, and how at times he could barely leave the house. The man who helped France reach the World Cup final felt forgotten afterward.
Nabil Fekir’s “what if” has also been a long echo. He was once considered a future world star—technically brilliant and built for a breakthrough. But cruciate ligament injuries and physical setbacks prevented a definitive rise. A transfer to Liverpool FC fell through at the last minute in 2018 after the World Cup.
Fekir denied reports that his knee problems had prevented the move. but he remained remembered more for potential than for arrival. Instead of Liverpool, he went to Betis Sevilla, yet he never fully realized what people expected from him. Since 2024, the now 32-year-old has been playing for Al-Jazira in Dubai.
Presnel Kimpembe’s story also turned on injuries that didn’t just slow him—they stole time. The PSG defender had been one of France’s best center backs for years before severe Achilles tendon problems sidelined him for nearly two years. While other teammates piled up titles, Kimpembe spent much of his time simply trying to get back on the field.
In 2025, he moved to Qatar, where he is often just a substitute.
There are also the champions whose careers look like they were priced too high from the start. When Atlético Madrid paid around 70 million euros for Thomas Lemar in 2018, it seemed France had produced another world-class star. But in Madrid, he never consistently matched the expectations.
He won the league title under Diego Simeone and was at times key to the team. Yet injuries and a lack of consistency prevented his definitive breakthrough. Then, in 2023, a torn Achilles tendon set him back significantly. After that, he never truly regained his former form. He ultimately spent the 2024–25 season on loan at Girona, where he couldn’t stop the club’s sporting decline. Girona was relegated last season.
Some of the scars aren’t injuries at all—they’re what remains after the final whistle.
In 2018, Steve Mandanda was the number two behind Hugo Lloris and one of the most important leaders in the locker room. For many teammates, he was a father figure. But after his retirement in 2025, Mandanda spoke unusually candidly about the emptiness that followed.
For years, his daily life revolved around soccer. Then the team gatherings, the rituals, and that sense of community were gone. “My days are endless and empty. Empty of energy. Empty of meaning. Is this really death?” he wrote in his book *Les jours d’après*.
Mandanda later described how he had to reorient himself and initially struggled to find his place—learning to cope with the loss of an important chapter in his life.
And then there is the version of the story that refuses to close: Kylian Mbappé.
Statistically, he has been among the most successful players of his generation. At 19, he became a world champion and scored a goal in the final against Croatia. Four years later, he nearly single-handedly led France to a second World Cup title. In the final against Argentina, he scored a historic hat trick.
But a sense of incompleteness hangs over his career. He stayed with Paris Saint-Germain to lead the club to the long-awaited Champions League title. Despite massive investments and a star-studded lineup featuring Neymar and Messi, PSG failed again and again.
When Mbappé left the club for Real Madrid in 2024, the move felt like a direct path to the biggest titles. The irony followed immediately: PSG won the Champions League for the first time after his departure. A year later, another triumph followed. While the Parisians made history without their longtime superstar. Mbappé continued to wait for the trophy that would fully crown his career.
Individually, the highest honor hasn’t come either. Despite a World Cup title, a World Cup hat trick, and impressive goal-scoring rates, he has never won the Ballon d’Or. Inside Madrid, not everyone looks patient. The story says quite a few already hope for another quick departure of the superstar.
Even if some of the 2018 winners suffered immediately, not all of them declined. Some didn’t reach their peak until years later. Ousmane Dembélé is the most striking example.
When France won the title in Russia, Dembélé was considered an exceptional talent, but his career was repeatedly hampered by injuries and a lack of consistency. Many treated him like a perennial prospect. Then, in his late 20s, he resurfaced with force.
As the leader of Paris Saint-Germain, he guided the club to Champions League titles in 2025 and 2026. In 2025, he became the first World Cup champion from the 2018 squad to win the Ballon d’Or. The former problem child became the best soccer player in the world.
Antoine Griezmann also held on to his status as a national hero. After the World Cup title. he led France to another World Cup final in 2022 and developed into the team’s strategic mastermind. While other World Cup champions faded early, Griezmann remained a key figure for the Équipe Tricolore for years.
Olivier Giroud’s legacy has its own strange mark. He became a World Champion in 2018 without scoring a single goal in the entire tournament. Still, he made French soccer history after that—surpassing Thierry Henry as the national team’s all-time leading scorer. It’s something that many critics never believed he could do.
And even N’Golo Kanté, once thought to be finished at the highest level, staged a resurgence. After injuries and his move to Saudi Arabia, many believed his time at the top was over. Yet at the 2024 European Championship, he was surprisingly among France’s strongest players and proved his class again. Kanté will be there for the 2026 World Cup as well.
Now, with France considered the top favorite to win the World Cup this year, the Équipe Tricolore’s most urgent question isn’t just talent—it’s whether the players’ personalities mesh and whether they can form a cohesive unit on the field. Not like at the 2010 World Cup. But that’s another story.
France 2018 World Cup Paul Pogba Benjamin Mendy Adil Rami Samuel Umtiti Nabil Fekir Presnel Kimpembe Thomas Lemar Steve Mandanda Kylian Mbappé Ousmane Dembélé Antoine Griezmann Olivier Giroud N'Golo Kanté Ballon d'Or Champions League