Swedish prosecutors have dropped a rape investigation that was reportedly launched in connection with Kylian Mbappé’s visit to Stockholm in October.
In a statement released on Thursday, lead investigator Marina Chirakova said there was not enough evidence to continue the investigation, which had centred on an incident at a hotel.
“During the course of the investigation, there has been a designated person suspected on reasonable grounds of rape and two cases of sexual assault, but my assessment is that the evidence is not sufficient to proceed and the investigation is therefore closed,” Chirakova said. “The designated person has not been notified of suspicion of a crime.”
Prosecutors never publicly named the suspect in the investigation, but many Swedish media outlets reported it was the Real Madrid striker Mbappé, who visited Stockholm in October during a break in the Spanish La Liga season.
At the time Mbappé’s legal team dismissed those reports as false. Mbappé’s lawyer, Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, and the player’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Thursday.
In an interview that aired last Sunday on the French TV station Canal Plus, Mbappé said he was “surprised” by the reports that he was the subject of a rape investigation and added he had not been contacted by Swedish authorities.
“These are things that come into your life like that, you can’t see them coming,” Mbappé told Canal Plus. “It’s just incomprehension. I don’t think it weighed on me, in the sense that I have never considered myself involved.”
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The 25-year-old footballer visited Stockholm on 10 October during an international break, opting to recover from a thigh injury instead of playing for France in the Nations League.
Just days later, Swedish media reported he was the subject of a rape investigation. Mbappé labelled the reports as “fake news” on social media, and his entourage categorically denied the reports in a statement to AFP. “These accusations are completely false and irresponsible, and their propagation is unacceptable,” the statement said.
At the time, Swedish prosecutors confirmed that a rape investigation began but declined to comment further, telling the Guardian: “There is nothing else that the prosecutor can confirm nor deny.”
