Kylian Mbappe breaks another FIFA World Cup record as he becomes youngest ever to play 20 games

France’s Kylian Mbappe became the youngest player to reach twenty appearances at the World Cup. He reached this milestone at the age of twenty-seven years and two hundred and one days. (AP photo) Kylian Mbappe and World Cup records go together like goals and glory and on Thursday night he added another to his growing collection.When Mbappe took the field in France’s quarter-final match against Morocco in Boston on Thursday, he became the youngest player in history to make 20 World Cup appearances, reaching the milestone at just 27 years and 201 days. The record was previously held by Poland’s Wladislaw Zmuda, who reached 20 World Cup appearances at the 1986 tournament in Mexico at 28 years and 34 days. Mbappe broke it by almost a year.The timing of the milestone fits. Mbappe made his World Cup debut as a 19-year-old at Russia 2018 and helped France lift the trophy with a stunning 4-2 final victory over Croatia, becoming the first teenager since Pelé to score in a World Cup final in the process. He returned at Qatar 2022 and won the Golden Boot with eight goals despite France’s heartbreaking final defeat to Argentina on penalties. He now enters the quarter-finals in 2026 with seven goals to his name and sits just two behind Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race.Twenty performances. Three World Cups. One World Cup winner medal. And at 27, he still has at least two World Cups ahead of him.The record is not the only one that Mbappe holds at this tournament. He has already broken Miroslav Klose’s record for men’s World Cup goals and became only the second player after Messi to score seven or more goals in two different editions of the World Cup. He is also the only player in history to score three or more goals in the knockout stages at three separate World Cups, which he achieved against Paraguay in the Round of 16.Messi holds the all-time record for World Cup appearances with 30 appearances across six tournaments. Mbappé, who still has at least two editions ahead of him, has a chance to reduce this number as well.Zmuda played in four World Cups in 12 years to achieve his goal. Mbappé reached the same figure in three tournaments in eight years.