This Sunday, Argentina and France will define the champion of the World Cup in Qatar. All the spotlights are on La Scaloneta and Lionel Messi, although we must also talk about Les Bleus, led by Kylian Mbappé. The 23-year-old striker, who already knows what it is to win the World Cup, is a very reserved person, so many people do not know his background and personal life. Find out 10 facts about the intimacy of the French star.
Ten curious facts
1- The attacker was born in Bondy, 19th arrondissement of Paris, one of the most humble neighborhoods of the city. He was raised in a migrant family: his father, Wilfried, was born in Cameroon and emigrated to Europe as a refugee in search of a better life, while his mother, Fayza Lamari, is originally from Algeria.
2- Sport was always transcendental in the Mbappé family. Wilfried played soccer all his life and was a youth coach in France. For her part, Fayza was a figure of handball, where she became Idoia and a referent of AS Bondy, an institution that she continues to support to this day. The woman has recognized that this sport provided her with two fundamental pillars that she passed on to her children: solidarity and discipline.
3- The Frenchman started his sporting activity at the same club as his mother. He started playing for Bondy when he was only four years old, in 2003, and stayed there for eleven years, when he decided to join Monaco’s youth team, where he made his professional debut only one year later.
4- The rest of his family is also linked to sports activities. Kylian’s adopted brother, Jires Kembo-Ekoko, was a professional soccer player and played for Stade Rennais in France’s first division, among others. His other brother, Ethan, plays as a midfielder in PSG’s youth academy and dreams of reaching the club’s top flight.
5- At the age of 13, Mbappé met one of his biggest idols: Zinedine Zidane. In December 2012, Real Madrid invited him to tour the facilities with the aim of tempting him and signing him for the club’s youth academy. Zizou was his guide during the visit, and some time ago Kylian revealed a great anecdote alongside the former footballer and current coach.
“We greeted each other and he offered to drive me to the pitch in his car. He was pointing to the front seat as if to say ‘get in’. But I froze and asked, ‘Should I take my shoes off?’ I don’t know why I said that, but it was Zizou’s car! He thought that was pretty funny and said to me, ‘Of course not, come on, get in,'” he recounted in a letter he wrote to The Players Tribune.
6- Kylian’s other great passions are tennis and skiing. The Frenchman trained these two sports simultaneously during his time at AS Bondy, although he had to stop practicing the latter when he began to compete regularly at the local club. He revealed that skiing is what he “misses most” from his youth, but that he will take it up again once he retires: “When I retire I will rent a big ski slope to spend all day practicing”.
7- Very little is known about his love life, but he has been linked to multiple stars throughout his career. First, it was with Camille Gottlieb, youngest daughter of Stephanie of Monaco, as they were spotted together during the team’s celebrations after winning the 2016/17 French League. However, the rumors were quickly denied.
In 2019, he was linked to Ester Expósito, the Spanish actress and model starring in the Elite series. Mbappé liked several of her posts on social networks, which activated that rumor, although it all remained simply speculation. Later, he was linked to Alicia Allies, Miss France 2017, who has been seen in the stadiums of the World Cup in Qatar wearing a shirt with the name of the footballer, although it does not seem that there was anything between them.
8- Mbappé was linked to Inés Rau, a well-known French transgender model. The two were spotted together at the Cannes Film Festival, and were later together on a yacht in May this year, during the Frenchman’s vacation. Rumors increased when Rau declared that she found “a boyfriend” who accepts her as she is, although the relationship if it exists, has not yet been confirmed.
9- Her fortune is estimated at about 150 million dollars, according to Forbes magazine. However, that number will increase sharply over the next few seasons, since the signing of his contract renewal with PSG this year stipulated a salary of around 125 million euros, making him the highest-paid footballer on the planet, above Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
10- His family is in charge of everything related to the finances of his career. His mother, a lawyer by profession, created the company KEJWF (named after the initials of all family members) and is in charge of all negotiations linked to her son’s career, whether with soccer clubs or advertising brands. In fact, she played a key role in Mbappé’s renewal with Paris and in the failed negotiation with Real Madrid.
