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Kylian Mbappé and an unproven sexual assault that could have ended his promising career

He is the player of the moment for Real Madrid, which is an understatement to say the least. Although, on the other hand, Real Madrid fans expected nothing less after years of waiting for him. Indeed, we are talking about Kylian Mbappé, the 26-year-old star of Real Madrid and the French national team.

Along with Lamine Yamal, he is the most in-form player in LaLiga, although he did not have an easy start. Neither in sporting nor in personal terms.

We will focus on the personal side, remembering that last October 2024 he was linked to an investigation for an alleged sexual assault on a woman in a hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. The woman alleged that she had been raped on 10 October. The Swedish Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation and deemed Mbappé a ‘reasonable suspect’, the lowest level of suspicion in the Swedish Criminal Code.

What happened to the complaint?

The speedy striker's entourage claimed that he had indeed had sex during his stay in the Swedish capital, but that it was fully consensual.

In fact, subsequent messages between the woman and Mbappé after the encounter between the two were key in supporting the player's version, who maintained that the encounter was mutually consensual.

On 12 December 2024, the Swedish Prosecutor's Office decided to close the investigation due to a lack of sufficient evidence to pursue the case. Prosecutor Marina Chirakova stated that although a person was identified as a ‘reasonable suspect’ of rape and sexual harassment, the evidence collected was not sufficient to continue the proceedings.

Other examples such as the Mbappé case

That a football player should be linked to sexual assault, shall we say, comes as no surprise to anyone, unfortunately. Nor is it surprising that they are eventually found not guilty. In fact, we don't have to go very far to think of cases such as the following:

• Benjamin Mendy (Former Manchester City player): was charged in 2021 with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault in the UK. During the trial, several allegations against him were dismissed for lack of evidence and, in July 2023, a jury acquitted him of all remaining charges. Following his acquittal, Mendy resumed his football career by signing for Ligue 1 club Lorient.
• William Carvalho (current Real Betis player): was charged in 2023 with an alleged case of sexual assault in Portugal. However, after investigation, the case was closed as there was insufficient evidence to support the accusation. The player has always denied the facts and continues his sporting career with the Sevillian club without legal consequences.

However, there are also two sides to this coin and the list of footballers who have been found guilty of sexual assault is long:

• Dani Alves: the Brazilian was sentenced in February 2024 to four years and six months in prison for a crime of sexual assault with carnal access. The court also imposed five years of probation and 150,000 euros compensation to the victim.
• Robinho: the former Real Madrid player was sentenced in 2022 to nine years in prison for participating in a gang rape of an Albanian woman in a nightclub in Milan in 2013. He is currently in Brazil, a country that does not allow the extradition of its citizens.
• Santi Mina: the Spanish footballer was sentenced in 2022 to four years in prison for sexual abuse of a young woman in Almería in 2017. His defence filed a cassation appeal before the Supreme Court to challenge the conviction.