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She spent the entire tournament in Los Angeles, working, staying out of the football circus entirely. Then France lost to Spain in the semifinals, and Ester Exposito made the trip to Miami. The Spanish actress, reportedly linked to Kylian Mbappe , was photographed at Hard Rock Stadium for France's third-place match against England on July 18 -- the first time she had attended any France game at the 2026 World Cup. The timing was striking. Throughout the group stage and knockout rounds, Exposito had been posting from Los Angeles, busy with her acting career, while Mbappe was playing thousands of miles away on the East Coast.

Why did Ester Exposito miss Mbappe's World Cup matches?

Exposito stars in Drawn Together, an Amazon Prime Video series set to premiere on September 9. That project kept her occupied and far from the stadiums. She was in L.A. learning dance moves for an upcoming role and posting from the West Coast while Mbappe scored goals at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.


Her absence also lines up with something she has said openly: she does not follow football. "I know nothing about football. I've only been to a stadium a handful of times in my life. At home, nobody watched matches on television. Even though Spain is a great footballing country, I don't have that culture," she told Le Parisien. She is now discovering the sport partly through a film project called *Baton*, which centres on football as a theme.

Neither Mbappe nor Exposito has publicly confirmed their relationship, though European tabloids have tracked their movements throughout the year. They were first linked in early 2026, spotted together in Paris and Madrid before appearing on vacations together. The non-confirmation has become its own running subplot. When reporters caught Exposito at an airport and asked about breakup rumours -- which resurfaced after Mbappe was photographed with another woman on a holiday -- she brushed it off lightly, without feeding into the story.

Was Ester Exposito at any France World Cup games before Miami?

No. She had not been spotted at any of France's World Cup matches prior to the third-place fixture in Miami. When France was playing their group games in New Jersey, Exposito was on the opposite coast. A July 3 Instagram Story she posted appeared to show her at a scenic outdoor location in Europe, not in the United States.

She was in the country for professional reasons in June -- specifically for the Tribeca Film Festival, where she debuted her film Dante -- but there is no confirmation she attended any match during that period either.

What makes Miami different is unclear. France's third-place match was also the farewell game for coach Didier Deschamps, who is stepping down after 14 years in charge. Mbappe was chasing the Golden Boot with eight goals, going into the game neck-and-neck with Lionel Messi. Maybe the personal significance of the occasion pulled her in. Or maybe a trip to Miami was simply easier to fit around a packed schedule. Either way, she showed up -- quietly, without announcement, the same way she has handled everything else connected to this relationship.

With two goals against England in Saturday's thrilling 6-4 third-place playoff defeat, Kylian Mbappé overtook Lionel Messi on the all-time FIFA World Cup scoring chart, taking his career tally to 22.