Kylian Mbappe World Cup records are as closely linked as goals and glory and on Thursday night he added another to his ever-growing collection.Mbappe achieved the milestone on Thursday when he became the youngest player in history to make 20 FIFA World Cup appearances at the age of 27 years and 201 days when he took part in France’s quarter-final against Morocco in Boston. The record was previously held by Poland’s Wladyslaw Zmuda, who reached the record of 20 World Cup appearances at the age of 28 years and 34 days during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Mbappe broke that record nearly a year ago.The timing of this milestone is perfect. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the 19-year-old Mbappe made his World Cup debut, helping France defeat Croatia 4-2 in the final and win the trophy, becoming the first teenager to score in a World Cup final after Pele. He returned to Qatar in 2022 and won the Golden Boot with eight goals, although France ultimately lost heartbreakingly on penalties to Argentina. Now in 2026, he has scored seven goals and reached the quarter-finals, just two goals behind Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.Appeared twenty times. Three World Cups. A World Cup winner’s medal. At 27, he has at least two more World Cups left.This record is not the only one that Mbappe holds in this tournament. He has surpassed Miroslav Klose’s men’s World Cup scoring record, becoming only the second player after Messi to score seven or more goals in two different World Cups. He is also the only player in history to score three or more goals in the knockout stages of three World Cups, a feat achieved against Paraguay in the last 16.Messi holds the record with 30 World Cup appearances, spanning six tournaments. Mbappe still has at least two more chances to play, and he has every chance to catch up with this number.It took Zmuda four World Cups over 12 years to reach his record. Mbappe has reached the same figure in three games in eight years.
