A rape and sexual assault investigation into French football star Kylian Mbappé has been dropped because of “lack of evidence”.
Lawyers for the World Cup-winning forward were told there would be no further action taken against the 25-year-old following a visit to Sweden in October.
It follows sources close to the Paris-born star informing Le Parisien newspaper that he had “consensual sex” with a woman he met in a Stockholm nightclub.
Marina Chirakova, a prosecutor in the Scandinavian city, said in a statement released on Thursday: “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.”
Ms Chirakova added: “The designated person has not been notified of suspicion of a crime.”
Mbappé, who earns an estimated £90million a year playing for France and Real Madrid, was publicly implicated in a series of crimes by Swedish media, and then responded openly, despite never being formally identified as a suspect by the authorities.
The alleged victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was said to have been attacked in Mbappe's eighth-floor penthouse suite at the Bank Hotel in Stockholm.
Mbappé firmly denied this, while admitting to sleeping with someone he had just met at a nightclub through a VIP fixer.
He insisted they had 'consensual sex', saying he exchanged “happy, positive” text messages with the woman next morning, before flying to Corsica on a private jet with male friends.
Daily Swedish paper Expressen claimed Mbappé had visited the Chez Jolie restaurant and the V nightclub, while it was hosting an “exclusive private party”.
Those attending were forced to put their phones into boxes so they couldn't record anything that went on.
Following the night out, an alleged victim then went to a local hospital for treatment, and reported to police.
On Monday, Mbappé once again denied all the accusations on French TV station Canal+, saying: “I was surprised and I still am surprised, by the way. These are things that come into your life like that, you can't see them coming.
“It's just incomprehension. I don't think it weighed on me in the sense that I have never considered myself involved.”
When Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet first reported on the alleged rape in October, Mbappé posted the words “Fake News !!!!”on X.
Referring to a wages dispute with his old club, Paris St Germain, Mbappé wrote: “It's becoming so predictable, just before the hearing as if by chance.”
After the accusations first appeared in the media, Mbappé’s lawyer Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard said: “The only thing I can say is that he has nothing to be ashamed of. The second is that we don't know anything.”
Ms Canu-Bernard added: “He cannot even imagine for a second that a complaint has been filed and is directed against him.
“He has nothing to accuse himself of and doesn't even understand what it's about.”
Video footage was said to be hugely important in the case – both the V nighclub and Bank Hotel have many surveillance cameras.
The recollections of Mbappe's travelling companions were also hugely important.
Foremost among them was Nordi Mukiele, Mbappe's close friend from Paris, who is said to have arranged the Stockholm jaunt to help the star recover from injury.
The most detailed reporting about Mbappé trip to Stockholm – including him having consensual sex with a woman – was contained in Le Parisien.
The paper's investigation, which went up behind a paywall on October 16, with reporting credits from Paris and Stockholm, remains published without correction.
